The Central Bureau of Investigation has told a special court here that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha had allegedly "threatened" Aurobindo Pharma promoter Sharath Chandra Reddy to pay an amount of Rs 25 crore to the AAP for the five retail zones allotted to his firm under the Delhi government's excise policy.

According to the CBI, Kavitha had told Reddy that in case he does not pay the amount to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital, his business will be harmed in Telangana and Delhi.

Reddy, who was an accused in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged liquor scam in Delhi, had turned an approver in the case that is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The CBI is yet to file a chargesheet against him.

Seeking the BRS leader's custodial interrogation, the CBI told Special Judge Kaveri Baweja that it was at the "insistence and assurance" of Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, that Reddy got involved in the liquor business in Delhi.

Kavitha had allegedly assured Reddy that she had contacts in the Delhi government and that she would help him in the liquor business in the national capital under the now-scrapped excise policy.

"Kavitha further told Sharath Chandra Reddy that the payments of upfront money of Rs 25 crore for wholesale business and Rs 5 crore for each retail zone were to be made to the Aam Aadmi Party for getting liquor business and the same was to be paid to her associates, Arun R Pillai and Abhishek Boinpally, who would in turn coordinate with Vijay Nair, who was a representative of (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal," the CBI told the court on Friday.

The court has sent Kavitha to the CBI's custody till April 15.

According to the agency, in March and May 2021, when the excise policy was being formulated, Pillai, Boinpally and Butchibabu Gorantla stayed at the Hotel Oberoi in Delhi to swing the policy in their favour through Nair by inserting provisions.

After receiving the assurance of support from Kavitha, Aurobindo Reality and Infrastructure Private Limited paid Rs 80 lakh to her NGO, Telangana Jagruthi, under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in March 2021, the CBI has alleged. -- PTI