after-sisodia-s-bail-brs-hopeful-for-kavitha

With the Supreme Court granting bail to the former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy scam case, there is a stirring of hope in the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) camp in Telangana that their party MLC K Kavitha—daughter of former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao—might also get relief from the court.

 

Kavitha is presently lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi following her arrest by the CBI in connection with the liquor policy scam.

 

“We hope that my sister too will be given bail sometime next week,” the BRS working president and Kavitha’s brother KT Rama Rao said. There was no need to keep her in jail as the charge sheet had been filed in the court, the former Telangana minister contended.

 

KTR, as he is popularly known, said a fresh bail application has been filed in the court in Delhi.

 

He voiced concern over her health as she had lost 11 kg of weight after her incarceration and fell ill recently.

 

Though Sisodia’s bail has nothing to do with Kavitha’s even though both of them had been arrested in the alleged Delhi exercise policy scam by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, the BRS leadership believes that the court might take a sympathetic view of Kavitha’s failing health to grant bail to her.

 

The apex court, while granting bail to Sisodia, who was arrested 17 months ago and has been in jail ever since, said: “There is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future” and that he was deprived of the right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution which guaranteed right to protection of life and personal liberty.

 

When it comes to Kavitha, she has been in jail after the ED arrested her on 15 March from her residence in Hyderabad and flew her to Delhi, despite protests by the BRS leaders.

 

KTR even entered into an argument with the ED officials over the way they arrested her without a transit warrant. The CBI arrested her even while she was in judicial custody at Tihar Jail on 11 April in the same case.

 

Ever since the ED began mentioning her possible involvement in the case while arresting AAP leaders and other accused and the CBI began showing interest and even recorded her statement as a witness in December 2022, a political narrative has been built around the sequence of the events that culminated in her arrest in March.

 

By that time, the BRS was dethroned and the Congress came to power in Telangana state.

 

In fact, till the Assembly elections which took place towards the end of November 2023, the political discourse was that though the ED suspected Kavitha’s involvement in the liquor scam, it was not arresting her because it had no clearance from the BJP’s central leadership.

 

Kavitha is facing two investigation agencies, ED and CBI. Between the two, the ED’s case is a tough one because she was arrested under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) where the onus of proving not guilty rests on the accused.

 

In normal cases, bail is granted after the expiry of 90 days.

 

However, in the majority of PMLA cases, it is not allowed because the provisions of the Act are very stringent as they deal with the laundering of huge amounts of money for illegal purposes.

 

In some cases, even if the prosecution agencies do not oppose granting bail, the courts may not grant it if they are not satisfied with the explanation given. The court should feel convinced that the evidence before it does not constitute serious material to consider granting bail.

 

Since the Supreme Court had reiterated that “bail is the rule and jail is an exception” in Sisodia’s case, it is expected that when Kavitha’s petition for bail comes up, the court may take the same position and the other consideration which it took in Sisodia’s case — the trial might take too long to complete during which time the accused has the right to exercise article 21 of the Constitution, which guaranteed protection of life and personal liberty.