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Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma has given his nod to prosecute former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao in the Formula E race case.
The nod comes two months after the state government sent the file to the Governor seeking his permission to prosecute the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader in the case relating to alleged misuse of Rs 54.88 crore public funds.
This will pave the way for the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to file the charge sheet.
It was in September that the ACB submitted its report and, through the state government, sought the Governor’s sanction to prosecute KT Rama Rao (KTR), senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and others.
However, the prosecution of Arvind Kumar requires permission from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Union government. It was immediately not clear if the ACB would file the charge sheet against all the accused after receiving permission from DoPT or file an initial charge sheet against KTR.
After nine months of probe into the alleged irregularities in hosting the Formula E race in Hyderabad during the previous BRS regime, the ACB had submitted its report to the government.
KTR has been accused of receiving Rs 44 crore from a sponsorship company as a quid pro quo for granting it rights to organise the race.
The ACB in December last year booked a case against KTR, former Special Chief Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD), Arvind Kumar and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority's (HMDA) former Chief Engineer BLN Reddy for alleged Rs 54.88 crore irregularities in the Formula E deal.
After the Governor gave his permission for the probe, the FIR was registered on a complaint by Principal Secretary, MA&UD, M Dana Kishore, who stated that foreign remittances were made without prior approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities, which resulted in additional tax burden to HMDA to the tune of Rs 8.06 crore.
The complainant also alleged that the payment was made while the Model Code of Conduct was in effect for the elections to the state Assembly without any prior approval of the Election Commission. The FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as under the Indian Penal Code's (IPC) Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
The ACB questioned KTR, Arvind Kumar and BLN Reddy multiple times in the case.
The former minister, who was questioned by the ACB four times, dismissed the Formula E case as a “bogus case”.
KTR said he had made every effort to bring the Formula E race to Hyderabad. He admitted that it was he who had directed the release of Rs 46 crore from the government, but clarified that the funds had been deposited directly into the designated account. “Not a single rupee has been misused. Every rupee is accounted for. Where then is the corruption?” he asked.
The BRS leader asserted that even if prosecution proceeded or charge sheets were filed, the case would not stand.