In a setback to BRS leader K Kavitha the Supreme Court on Wednesday said her plea against summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged money laundering case rooted in Delhi excise policy irregularities scam will be listed on March 24, without protecting her from appearing before ED tomorrow (March 16).

Kavitha is daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao – a vocal critic of the BJP-led Central government.

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Ordering the listing of the matter for March 24, Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, heading a bench comprising Justice Krishna Murari and Justice P S Narasimha, asked Kavitha’s lawyer what was the urgency.

The Kavitha’s lawyer told the court that she has been summoned again by the ED tomorrow (March 16) in the matter and as per the norms a woman cannot be summoned for questioning before the ED in its office and her questioning should take place at her residence.

Kavitha, in her petition, has urged the apex court to quash March 7 and 11 ED summons stating that asking her to appear at agency’s office instead of her residence is contrary to the settled tenets of criminal jurisprudence and thus, wholly unsustainable in law being violative of the Proviso to Section 160 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

She has also sought that the seizure made by the ED be declared as null and void.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader has also sought all proceedings to be carried out by the ED, including those in relation to the recording of statements to be audio/videographed in the presence of her lawyer at a visible distance inter-alia by way of installation of appropriate CCTV cameras.

Alleging political conspiracy by certain members of ruling BJP at the Centre, Kavitha in her petition has alleged that despite her not being named in the FIR, certain members of the incumbent ruling political party at Centre, made scandalous statements linking her to the Delhi Excise Policy and the said FIR.

“The political conspiracy against the Petitioner ( Kavitha) unfortunately did not end with judicial intervention by way of the Suit. The Enforcement Directorate filed a remand application qua one of the accused on 30.11.2022 before the concerned Court. This remand application contained the personal contact details of the Petitioner. There was no rhyme or reason to include the personal contact details of the Petitioner in a remand application which did not even concern the Petitioner. The act is all the more egregious considering the Petitioner is a lady,” BRS leader said.

Kavitha has said that the subsequent events are “extremely shameful” and in the “belief of the Petitioner (Kavitha), were orchestrated by the Enforcement Directorate at the behest of the members of the incumbent ruling party at the Centre, as part of a larger conspiracy against the Petitioner.”