In Hyderabad, K Kavitha, a prominent figure in the BRS faction, who found herself entangled in the defunct Delhi excise policy scandal, took the decision on Tuesday to retract the writ petition she had initiated in the Supreme Court to contest the summonses issued to her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Kavitha, an esteemed Member of the Legislative Council and the offspring of the former Chief Executive of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao, had set the wheels in motion for the aforementioned writ petition on March 14, 2023. Vikram Chaudhary, representing Kavitha, apprised the court that delving into the merits of the writ was superfluous, hence they were opting to withdraw it sans any requisite hearing. A judicial panel headed by Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mittal acquiesced to the withdrawal of the writ petition.

The legal counsel for Kavitha stipulated their intention to pursue legal recourse through other channels. Conversely, the Supreme Court embarked on the examination of a separate plea contesting the lawfulness of Kavitha’s apprehension. The Member of the Legislative Council had been apprehended by the ED from her abode in Hyderabad the preceding week and remains in their custody until March 23.

Simultaneously, investigations conducted by the ED unearthed a purported collusion between Kavitha and members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), notably Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, aimed at securing advantages in the crafting and execution of the excise policy, allegedly in exchange for a hefty sum of Rs 100 crore. The ED apprised the PMLA Court that Kavitha was ostensibly one of the linchpins, a pivotal figure in the conspiracy, and a direct beneficiary of the scandalous policy.

However, Kavitha vehemently refuted the allegations, positing that the federal administration was exploiting the central agency as a pawn owing to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) inability to make inroads into Telangana.