SC questions fairness of probe, grants bail to Kavitha in Delhi liquor policy case

Kavitha walks out of Tihar Fail

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K.Kavitha, five months after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi liquor policy scam. She walked out of Tihar Jail here late Tuesday evening.

While granting her bail, the Apex Court questioned the Central agencies over the fairness of their probe and asked if they were free to "pick and choose" an accused.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia are also named as accused in the Delhi liquor policy scam. While Sisodia, arrested in February last year, was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court, Kejriwal remains in jail. After Sisodia, Kavitha is the second major Opposition leader to receive bail in this case.

The top court said Kavitha's custody was no longer required as both the CBI and the ED had completed their investigations against her.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and K V Viswanathan noted that 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.