The Telangana High Court has passed an interim order protecting Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao from arrest till December 30, in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) case booked against him for alleged corruption in organising the Formula E race. Meanwhile, the court has allowed the ACB’s investigation to continue, LiveLaw reported.
BRS working president and former minister KTR had approached the Telangana High Court, seeking orders to quash the corruption case against him.
The ACB on Thursday, December 19, registered a case against KTR for alleged misuse of government funds in conducting Formula E race in Hyderabad last year when BRS was in power. It is alleged that on the direction of then Industries Minister KTR, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) paid Rs 55 crore to London-based company Formula E Operations, in violation of RBI guidelines. The payments were allegedly made without obtaining approvals from the Cabinet or the Finance Department.
Appearing on behalf of KTR, senior advocate CS Sundaram said that the Telangana government had to replace the private sponsor that had backed. Otherwise, the Formula E race event would have collapsed, he said, adding that there was no misappropriation of funds, as the agreement with Formule E Operations was continuing until the Congress government came to power in December 2023. He questioned the delay in registering the FIR, the lack of clear evidence of misappropriation of funds in the FIR, and alleged that the case stemmed from political vendetta.
The ACB’s First Information Report (FIR) was registered under Sections 13(1)(A) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with Sections 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servants) and 120(B) (Criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The ACB named KTR as accused number one in the FIR. IAS officer and former HMDA Commissioner Arvind Kumar, and former HMDA Chief Engineer BLN Reddy, have been named as accused number two and three respectively.
The ACB registered the FIR a few days after Governor Jishnu Dev Varma gave permission to try Rama Rao on a request made by the state government.
Addressing a press conference on December 19, KTR denied the allegations and revealed details of the transaction.
He said it was a fact that HMDA paid Rs 55 crore to organisers while the organisers also confirmed that they received Rs 55 crore. He asked the state government to explain where was the corruption in this transaction.
Accusing the government of political vendetta, the BRS leader claimed that the Formula E Race held last year was an attempt to enhance the brand image of Hyderabad and Telangana.
Recalling that the Formula E Race was contracted for four seasons on October 25, 2022, the former minister said the intention was to make Telangana a hub for Electric Vehicles.
KTR said that the HMDA had adhered to legal provisions, and funds were transparently transferred through government bank channels.
He emphasised that Hyderabad had gained global recognition through the Formula E event, attracting significant investments in the EV sector.
However, the state government’s inept handling of the situation caused reputational damage to Hyderabad and Telangana on the international stage, he alleged.
Accusing the government of filing baseless and politically motivated cases to divert public attention from its administrative failures, he said that he was not afraid of anybody and that he would face the case legally.
(With IANS inputs)