No immediate relief for BRS leader Kalvakuntla Kavitha by SC

The Supreme Court Monday did not grant any immediate relief to Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who had petitioned the top court challenging the summons issued to her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi government's now scrapped excise policy case.

A division bench comprising justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi posted the case for hearing after three weeks. The ED counsel, at the outset, told the bench that Kavitha's plea has become infructuous.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Kavitha, said that issues concerning place of interrogation etc need to be addressed. Sibal argued that whether Kavitha needs to be interrogated at home or in Delhi, the court is seized of the matter and has issued notice in similar petitions filed by Nalini Chidambaram and Abhishek Banerjee.


Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta and ASG SV Raju opposed the plea and tagging with other matters. Raju argued that rights applicable to women witnesses under the Code of Criminal Procedure as regards the place of questioning will not apply for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Issuing notice on the petition, the bench tagged Kavitha's petition with the existing petitions and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.

Kavitha has already been grilled by the ED thrice so far. In her petition, Kavitha has urged the court to quash the ED summons asking her to appear before the federal agency office, arguing that as per law, a woman should rather be questioned at her residence.