Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and former minister KT Rama Rao has approached the Telangana High Court, seeking orders to quash the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) case booked against him for alleged corruption in organising the Formula E race.
KTR filed a lunch motion petition before the Justice Shravan Kumar Bench. The petitioner requested that the petition be taken up for hearing after lunch.
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.
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered under Sections 13(1)(A) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with Sections 409 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code.
Read: KTR booked by Telangana ACB over Formula E race: What are the charges?
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.
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.