Rouse Avenue Court reserves verdict on Kavitha’s interim bail plea till April 8

NEW DELHI: Special CBI Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Court here on Thursday reserved verdict on the interim bail plea of jailed BRS MLC K Kavitha till April 8. The verdict would be delivered at 10.30 am on Monday.

Counsel for Kavitha, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi quoted the Delhi High Court judgment in the Preeti Chandra case and pleaded that Kavitha could be given interim bail to be with her children during the time of examinations.

“The woman accused in this case has a child whose exams are admittedly in these months, going onto April. It's not that the child is in arms or is a toddler. He is 16 years old. The issue is different. It's the moral and emotional support of the mother. There is trauma and shock about what has happened and two, there is silence. We have documented databases dealing with the phenomenon,” he said.

Referring to the exam schedule Singhvi pointed out that the 16-year-old son got many subjects and the perspective of a mother was not substitutable by the father sister or brother. “The emotional support of a mother can't be substituted by a maternal aunt also” he argued.

Singhvi while submitting rejoinder submissions to the Rouse court said that ED had once again proved that it was the most unfair prosecuting agency.

However, special counsel Zoheb Hossain representing ED said that “women” under the proviso of Section 45 of PMLA cover those women who do not have agency and not the ones who are "leading politicians in the State.”

“The accused in question is one of the prime movers of giving bribes. She is not only part of arranging kickbacks in advance but also a beneficiary through Indo Spirits. I am not relying on statements alone. I've material, WhatsApp documents, etc. There is direct proceed of crimes through bank accounts, where she is a beneficiary,” Zoheb said opposing bail to Kavitha.

The ED’s counsel told the Cort that Kavitha was involved in the destruction of evidence as she deleted contents and formatted her mobile phones before handing them over to the ED.

“When confronted, Kavitha evaded questions. On March 11, she said I'll produce when we asked her to produce the remaining phones. On the next day, she presents 9 phones. On preliminary examination, it was found that the phones were formatted and had no data,” Zoheb said.

Zoheb said that the investigation reached a crucial stage and the ED was on the verge of making crucial breakthroughs. “Any kind of interim relief at this stage will hamper our investigation,” Zoheb said.