Delhi excise policy case: BRS leader Kavitha appears before ED

BRS leader K Kavitha deposed before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Saturday, with the agency all set to confront her with an arrested accused and record her statement in connection with its money-laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy.

The 44-year-old daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao arrived at the federal agency's headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road from her father's official residence on Tughlak Road, located about 1.5 kilometres away, around 11 am.

There was a heavy presence of Delhi Police and central paramilitary forces personnel for barricading the ED office even as the supporters of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader staged a protest on APJ Abdul Kalam Road.

The ED had asked Kavitha to depose on March 9, but she sought a fresh date due to her scheduled daylong hunger strike here on Friday seeking the passage of the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill in the Budget Session of Parliament.

The BRS MLC has been called by the agency so that she can be confronted with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an alleged frontman of the "south group" who was arrested by the ED earlier this week. The agency will also record Kavitha's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).