The Supreme Court has given relief to Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader Kavita in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
On Tuesday, she came out of Tihar Jail after nearly 5 months. During the hearing, the court raised questions on the way the investigating agencies work.
The special thing is that the apex court has also termed deleting messages from the phone as ‘normal’. The Delhi High Court had refused to grant him bail.
The CBI and ED were accusing Kavita of tampering with evidence. The agencies alleged that she had deleted messages and formatted her phone.
According to reports, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that deleting messages from time to time is a ‘normal practice’ and cannot be considered a crime unless there is any other evidence to support it.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan was hearing the case. ASG SV Raju said that Kavita’s conduct amounted to tampering with evidence.
Kavita’s lawyer Mukul Rohatgi opposed this. He said that people use phones like toys and keep changing devices. His client had formatted the phone because she had bought a new phone and had given the old phone to the servant.
The court raised questions on the agencies
Both the central agencies faced severe criticism over the “fairness” of their investigation, with the Supreme Court saying it was “painful to see this situation”. “You will pick anyone?” the bench said, referring to a witness in the case. “The prosecution should be impartial,” the bench reprimanded the central agencies.
You cannot take action selectively. Is this fairness? The person who incriminates himself has been made a witness.
Tomorrow you will arrest anyone at will and make them accused at will and release anyone at will? Very reasonable and rational discretion!’
Rohatgi requested bail saying that the investigation against his client by both the agencies has been completed.
Rohatgi said he has been in custody for five months in the ED money laundering case and for more than four months in the CBI case.
He also cited the Supreme Court’s August 9 decision granting bail to co-accused and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in both the cases.
The ED had arrested Kavitha (46) from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15. The CBI had arrested her on April 11 in a corruption case linked to the alleged scam.
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has been accused of being part of the ‘South Group’, an alleged gang of businessmen and politicians.
This gang had allegedly paid a bribe of Rs 100 crore to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party of Delhi in exchange for liquor licenses. Kavita has been continuously denying these allegations.
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