Kavitha calls her 'arrest illegal', sent to ED custody till Mar 23

A Delhi court on Saturday sent Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha to Enforcement Directorate custody till March 23 in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Special Judge for ED cases M K Nagpal passed the order on an application of the federal anti-money laundering agency seeking her remand.

The agency produced Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, before the special court, and sought her custody for 10 days. However, the court remanded her in ED custody only till March 23.

While being produced before the court, Kavitha termed her arrest as illegal and said, "We will fight it (case) out in court."

Kavitha, 46, a Telangana Legislative Council member, was arrested by the central probe agency from her residence at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad Friday evening.

During the hearing, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, appearing for Kavitha along with advocate Nitesh Rana, told the judge her arrest was "illegal".

The counsel also accused the federal anti-money laundering agency of flouting the Supreme Court direction while arresting her. They claimed the apex court had directed the ED to not take any coercive action against Kavitha before it hears her plea against the summons issued by the agency to her on March 19.

"It is a black day that SC orders are violated, that an officer thinks he/she is above law," the counsel to court.

The ED, however, said it has not made any statement before a court, including the Supreme Court, that no coercive action will be taken against K Kavitha.

"There is enough evidence, witnesses' statements against K Kavitha in the case," the ED told the court.

The agency also accused Kavitha of destructing evidence in the case.

"We have summoned several witnesses to confront K Kavitha with," the agency told the court.

Condemning the arrest, party leaders and cadre held protests across several other parts of Telangana.

The protesters waved black flags and wore black cloth around their necks and took out rallies and squatted on roads. They raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP.

The protesters also held placards that read 'We stand with Kavithakka', 'Stop illegal arrests immediately' and 'Central government's stubborn attitude should end'.

The protesters also burnt the effigy of PM Modi at a few places.