K Kavitha after her release spoke to reporters and said, “I want to thank all of you.I became emotional after meeting my son, brother and husband today after almost 5 months. Only politics is responsible for this situation. The country knows that I was put in jail only because of politics, I did not make any mistake I will fight…”
Kavitha said, “We are fighters, we will fight it out legally and politically. They have only made the BRS and KCR’s team unbreakable”.
The apex court’s bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, ordered her immediate release on strict conditions, including the submission of her passport to the trial court and regular attendance at trial proceedings.
Kavitha, who had been in custody for five months, was released after furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh each in both the CBI and ED cases. The court emphasized that she must not tamper with evidence or influence witnesses during the ongoing trial.
“The appellant is directed to be forthwith released on bail in both cases. She shall not make any attempt to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses,” the court ruled.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court questioned the evidence presented by the CBI and ED against Kavitha. The bench noted that the investigation was complete, and the chargesheet had been filed, making her continued custody unnecessary. The court further stated that undertrial custody should not become a form of punishment, particularly when the trial’s conclusion is unlikely to occur in the near future.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Kavitha, argued that the investigating agencies had already completed their investigation against her and drew parallels with the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia, who is a co-accused in the same cases.
However, the additional solicitor general, S V Raju, representing the investigating agencies, alleged that Kavitha had destroyed or formatted her mobile phone, which he claimed amounted to evidence tampering. Rohatgi dismissed the allegation as “bogus.”
The Supreme Court also addressed the Delhi High Court’s earlier decision to deny Kavitha bail, describing the high court’s reasoning that bail could not be granted simply because a woman is educated and independent as “perverse” and ordered it to be quashed.
Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested by the ED in Hyderabad on March 15 and by the CBI on April 11 while she was in Tihar jail. The high court had previously rejected her bail applications, citing her alleged involvement as a key conspirator in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.