New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay the summoning of BRS leader K Kavitha by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. The BRS MLC will now have to report before the ED on March 16 for a second round of questioning.

The apex court refused to grant her an urgent hearing and listed her petition for hearing on March 24

Kavitha, daughter of Telangana chief minister KCR, had pleaded that she should be questioned by the agency at her residence. A woman can’t be called to the ED office time after time, she had argued.

However, the apex court refused to grant her an urgent hearing and listed her petition for hearing on March 24.

On March 11, the 44-year-old BRS leader deposed before the ED to record her statement and was summoned again on March 16 for questioning. Kavitha was grilled for nearly nine hours during the first round. Her statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“Can a woman be called to the office of the Enforcement Directorate?” her lawyer said while seeking an urgent hearing of the plea.

It is “completely against the law”, the lawyer had maintained.

It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.

The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.