In a relief to BRS leader K Kavitha, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted her bail in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, while questioning the central agencies over the fairness of their probe and asking if they were free to “pick and choose” an accused.
The apex court said Kavitha’s custody was no longer required as both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have completed their probe against her.
The Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) lawmaker from Telangana has been in jail for over five months.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan noted since 493 witnesses were to be examined and 50,000 pages of documents were to be considered in the two cases, there was no likelihood of the trial being concluded in the near future.
“The appellant (Kavitha) is directed to be released forthwith on bail … on furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs 10 lakh in each of the cases,” the bench said, while allowing her appeals against the July 1 verdict of the Delhi High Court which had denied her bail in the two cases.
Later in the day, a Delhi court issued release warrants for Kavitha, paving the way for her release from jail.
While quashing the high court verdict, the apex court said Kavitha shall not make any attempt to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses and shall deposit her passport with the trial judge.
It said she shall regularly attend the trial court proceedings and cooperate to ensure expeditious disposal of the trial.
The two federal agencies came in for some sharp criticism over the “fairness” of their investigation, with the apex court observing “Sorry to see this state of affairs”.
“You will pick and choose anyone?” it asked, while referring to one of the witnesses whose statements were read out in the court during the arguments.
“The prosecution has to be fair. You can’t pick and choose anyone. What is this fairness? A person who incriminates himself has been made a witness,” the bench said, adding, “Tomorrow you will pick up anyone as you choose and leave anyone as you choose as an accused? Very fair and reasonable discretion!”
When Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the probe agencies, referred to some witnesses who have claimed Kavitha’s involvement in the alleged scam, the court told him it would be compelled to “observe everything” if he tried to pull it into the details.
“We will have to observe about the fairness and impartiality of the investigating agencies,” it said, adding, “If you want those observations, you argue more”.
