With the Supreme Court on Friday granting bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi excise policy scam, decks seems to have cleared for the release of Bharat Rashtra Samith leader and MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha in the same case.
A Supreme Court bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, while granting bail to Sisodia in both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation cases filed in connection with the alleged excise policy scam, said Sisodia was in prison for 17 months and he was deprived of the right to speedy trial by the trial court and the high court.
According to Kavitha’s brother and BRS working president K T Rama Rao, who called on her in the Tihar jail, there is every possibility of his sister getting bail next week, as the observations made by the Supreme Court bench would apply even to her.
A couple of days ago, Kavitha withdrew her petition in the Delhi court seeking default bail in the excise policy scam, following the court order. Since she has already filed a petition in the Supreme Court, she wants to wait till it takes up her case.
Expressing concern over the jail conditions, KTR said Kavitha had been languishing in jail since March 16 amidst horrible conditions.
“The jail is crammed with 30,000 prisoners, while the actual capacity of the jail is only 11,000,” he lamented.
Stating that Kavitha was facing a lot of troubles in the jail, KTR said she had lost 11 kgs of weight and was suffering from blood pressure.
“She is taking two BP tablets every day. She has other health issues as well,” he said.
He said one should be prepared to face such difficulties if one has to fight politically.
“We have filed a petition for bail in the Supreme Court and it might come up next week. Since Sisodia got the bail, we hope that she, too, would get the bail on the same grounds,” he added.
