"The Day I Was Taken To Jail...": K Kavitha, Cleared In Liquor Policy Case

The headlines screamed 'Arvind Kejriwal acquitted in Delhi liquor policy case'.

But beneath the strap was another equally important story – that of Telangana Jagrithi President K Kavitha who, like the Aam Aadmi Party boss and his right-hand man, Manish Sisodia, was accused of corruption and criminal conspiracy and spent months in jail sans a trial or any prospect of one.

Like Kejriwal and Sisodia, she too was cleared of all charges.

Hours after the big verdict, Kavitha spoke to NDTV Friday evening about the impact of the case on her family, from a drama-filled arrest from her Hyderabad home in March 2024 to taunts from political rivals and online abuse from trolls online, which was amplified because of her gender.

"… the day I was taken to jail my younger son was writing his intermediate board exams and that is a very vulnerable age. Kids today are always online and he could see all this venom being spewed against me. I was worried about him… my older son, by then, was studying abroad."

#NDTVExclusive | "The day I was taken to jail, my younger son was writing intermediate board exams. Was really worried about him. Don't think anyone can understand that pain": K Kavitha (@RaoKavitha), President Telangana Jagruthi to @shivaroor after being discharged in the Delhi… pic.twitter.com/fg3lY9qqu1

— NDTV (@ndtv) February 27, 2026

"But the younger one was here… in the house… when I was taken away to jail. And I don't think anybody can understand the pain I went through for those first 15 days."

Kavitha told NDTV the stress of the first fortnight left a mark on her and her family.

It even affected, she said, the puppy they had adopted; "my dog lost its sight," she said, "and many people said it is stress (that the family was under, and which the dog felt) that makes it happen."

"It was a very, very bad phase in my life and the toll it took on my family… now I can say it 'strengthened' me, 'strengthened' my kids. But why was I put through that… for nothing! Just because the BJP wanted to prove a point – 'either you are with us or against us'," she said.

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"But I fully cooperated because I knew the truth would one day prevail. And today I am happy the judiciary has seen through this web of lies… they went deep down, they cut very deep," Kavitha said, pointing to the Rouse Avenue Court's searching questions to the CBI.

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"It is a very big victory for all of us today as a nation," she said.

'My father, my brother'

It wasn't just her sons that Kavitha spoke about.

The 47-year-old is political royalty in Telangana; her father, K Chandrasekhar Rao, is a former Chief Minister and her brother, KT Rama Rao, is one of the state's foremost politicians.

But neither, she said, spoke from her corner in the past few years, except for some words of support when she was jailed, weeks before the 2024 parliamentary election.

K Kavitha and her brother, KT Rama Rao (File photos).

"I requested the party (she was then part of the family-run Telangana Rashtra Samithi) time and again for support, moral support. Just to come out and speak for me… to hold a press conference and state their confidence in me. But that was never done."

Snapping back at KTR's remarks that his sister's involvement in the liquor policy case cost the party the 2023 state election, she said the fact he did not speak in her defence during campaigning, despite claiming to be adversely impacted by her arrest, was telling.

"We have grown apart… as family, as political institutions. Now, I want to go ahead (and) work for my people. I have nothing to do with the BRS," she told NDTV, "They suspended me… they expelled me. But my only strength, then and now, is only the truth."

But blood, they say, runs thicker than water. Kavitha said she would still be happy to hear from her family. "I would love to hear from my father and brother… happy to receive a phone call."