Excise policy case: Delhi court extends judicial custody of Kejriwal, K Kavitha till May 7

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday extended till May 7 the judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BRS leader K Kavitha in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam.

Special judge for CBI and ED matters Kaveri Baweja extended the custody of Kejriwal and Kavitha along with co-accused Chanpreet Singh, who allegedly managed the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) funds in the 2022 Goa assembly elections after they were produced before the court through video conference on the expiry of their remand.

The judge also extended the judicial custody of Kavitha, a Telangana MLC and the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, till May 7 in a related corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court, meanwhile, adjourned for Wednesday the hearing on Kavitha's bail application in the money laundering case. The judge had on April 22 reserved for May 2 its order on her bail application in the corruption case.

Kavitha is in judicial custody in both the cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI. She was arrested by the ED from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad in the money laundering case on March 15. Later, she was arrested by the CBI from Tihar jail on April 11.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.

The CBI is probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, while the ED is investigating the money laundering aspect.