A Delhi court on Friday gave permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to interrogate Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislator K Kavitha - who is accused of allegedly paying Rs 100 crore to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in return for liquor licences in the Capital - in Tihar jail.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja allowed the CBI to visit the jail to record Kavitha's statement on any day of the coming week, following the submission of a written notice to the jail superintendent concerned a day before.

Requesting the court for a permission to interrogate Kavitha, the CBI submitted that WhatsApp chats retrieved from her CA Butchibabu Gorantla's cellphones revealed Kavitha's role as one of the key conspirators in collection and payments of Rs 100 crore to AAP, through accused Vijay Nair and others in lieu of favourable provisions in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for the year 2021-22.

A Delhi court had earlier sent Kavitha to 14 days of judicial custody until April 9; and she was in the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) custody for 10 days in the Delhi excise policy case. The ED took her into custody from Hyderabad on March 15, and produced her before Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court the next day. She was sent to ED custody for seven days, and on March 23, the court granted the central agency three more days of her custody, as reported by IndianExpress.

Calling Kavitha one of the kingpins and key conspirators, the ED in its remand application noted that she had "conspired with top AAP leaders and gave them kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore, and in exchange, got undue favours in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi excise policy".

The application also alleged that she "orchestrated" a deal with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia, wherein she, along with other members of the 'South Group', paid kickbacks "through a string of intermediaries and middlemen" to gain access to the excise policy formation.