ACB grills KTR for 7 hours in Formula E race case, asks 82 questions

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao ruled out any scope for irregularities in how the Formula E race championship was organised in 2023 here.

KTR, accompanied by his advocate J Ramachandra Rao appeared before the ACB officials at their headquarters in Banjara Hills promptly at 10 am and presented himself for questioning on Thursday.

The ACB officials including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) questioned KTR for almost seven hours to ascertain details in connection with the transfer of Rs 54 crore from Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to the UK based Formula E racing operations Limited.

The ACB on December 19, 2024 registered a case against KTR, over alleged payments, most of it in foreign currency without approvals, to conduct the race in February 2023 during the previous regime.

The case was registered under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC dealing with criminal misappropriation, criminal misconduct, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy that allegedly resulted in the loss to the government exchequer to the tune of about Rs 55 crore.

The FIR named KTR, an MLA now, as the prime accused, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and retired bureaucrat BLN Reddy as accused no 2 and 3 respectively.

Though the race was supposed to be held in February 2024 as well, it was cancelled after the Congress government assumed office in December 2023.

KTR asked 82 questions about case

Coming out of the ACB office, the BRS working president said that the ACB officials have asked him a total of 82 questions during their investigation into the case and recorded his statement.

"Whatever questions the ACB asked me, I responded in detail to the best of my understanding. I told them that I would appear whenever they call me," KTR said.

Terming the case against him as 'false' and 'irrational', he claimed that he told the investigators they were acting under "government pressure" and didn’t know what they were doing.

He alleged that "it would be (Chief Minister) Revanth Reddy's stupidity if he thinks he can achieve something with such a politically motivated case."

The BRS working president claimed that the investigators asked him "four or five questions given by Revanth Reddy" in multiple ways.

KTR also stated that there was no corruption in the Formula-E case, as he had authorised the payment, which was acknowledged by the race organisers.

The BRS leader said the ACB officials asked him the same questions "over and over" and he gave the same answers. He said he asked them as to who is the beneficiary in the alleged misappropriation and where are the proceeds of crime.

KTR reaffirmed that the previous government organised the international race to bring investments to Telangana and to enhance the brand image of Hyderabad.

Transfer of money in case

The former MA&UD minister also said he clarified that the money was transferred with his consent saying that the representatives of Formula E Operations Limited acknowledged receiving the money. “Where is the corruption?” he asked.

Maintaining that he took the decision (to transfer funds) to host the race in the absence of a promoter to safeguard the brand image of the state and city, the BRS MLA said he told the investigators that he would do so again if he had to do it.

He realised that the investigators did not have a case against him and that they were going to make a "fool out of themselves". "They might arrest me, they might put me in jail for a few days. The Chief Minister, who is a criminal himself, might get some sadistic pleasure out of it. But, eventually, the fact is truth will prevail," KTR said.

Noting that he has immense faith in the judiciary, he said he will explore all legal avenues available to him. Had CM Revanth Reddy not cancelled the race of the second season "unilaterally", the state would have benefited. Therefore, Reddy should be the accused, he claimed.

The police officers asked the BRS working president to leave after objecting to him speaking to the media outside the ACB building. Despite a brief altercation, KTR left for the Telangana Bhavan while the BRS cadre raised slogans.

KTR slams CM Revanth over false cases

At Telangana Bhavan, KTR lashed out at CM Revanth Reddy for fostering false cases against him for questioning the failures of the Congress government.

“I am not a person like CM Revanth Reddy to do corruption and be caught red-handed like in the cash-for-vote scam. Whatever I did was to enhance the brand image of Hyderabad and Telangana. I am ready to face all the cases against me because I didn’t commit any irregularities,” he said.