No relief for KTR from HC: ACB to go full throttle in Formula E case

Hyderabad: Telangana High Court has dismissed BRS working president KT Rama Rao’s petition in which he sought to quash the FIR related to the Formula E race case. The High Court turned down an oral request of KTR’s lawyers seeking protection from arrest for 10 days. A copy of the order will be made available by 2 pm today. Justice K. Lakshman pronounced the orders on 7th January, 2025.

This allows the ACB to go full throttle in the investigation. Earlier, KTR cited that the case is politically motivated, claiming that it was a deliberate attempt to discredit him.

On December 31, the HC had reserved its orders over the petition after hearing the arguments from the state government as well as the defence in the case registered by the Anti- Corruption Bureau. The court had earlier restricted ACB from arresting the former minister until the orders were pronounced and the present order removes that protection.

"This money belonged to HMDA and KTR, who was the Municipal Administration Minister then, approved the file and paid this money in violation of the rules in vogue and this money did not belong to his department at that point of time," the Court said.

With Telangana High Court dismissing the quash petition filled by KTR and allowing the ACB to go full throttle in the case. This automatically vacates the stay on arrest of KTR.

KTR held discussions with BRS leaders and legal advisors

Following the High Court’s verdict, KTR held discussions with BRS leaders and legal advisors.

"We are yet to receive the High Court order copy, based on which they will take a call whether to approach the Supreme Court and also as per his client's decision," a senior member of KTR's legal team told PTI.

During the arguments, Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy pointed out that payments were made to Formula E Organisation without following business rules and necessary approvals while the defence advocates argued that there was no criminality in the case.

The AG also argued that the case cannot be quashed at the FIR stage when the investigation is going on.

KTR, IAS Arvind Kumar booked for misuse of Govt funds in Formula E race

The ACB on December 19 registered a case against KTR, over alleged payments, some of it in foreign currency without approvals, to conduct the race in 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 loss to the government exchequer to the tune of about Rs 55 crore.

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, who was Municipal Administration Minister during the previous BRS regime, was also summoned by the ED for questioning on January 7 over alleged irregularities in conducting the race in Hyderabad.

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

The ACB has summoned KTR to appear before it on Monday. However, because his counsel was denied permission to join him, the BRS working president filed a written statement to the ACB and did not appeared before them.

Following this, the ACB has once again summoned him to appear for questioning on January 9.

ED summons KTR in money laundering case

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned the BRS working president for questioning on January 16th in a money laundering case linked to alleged payment irregularities during a Formula-E race held in Hyderabad in February 2023.

The federal agency filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) or FIR in December, 2024 in the case under various sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognisance of a Telangana Police Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) complaint.

The probe against KTR, pertains to alleged payments of about Rs 55 crore, some of it in foreign currency without approvals, to conduct a Formula-E race in Hyderabad during the previous BRS regime in February 2023.

The Enforcement Directorate is also probing possible foreign exchange violations in the case under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), as per the sources.

The BRS working president had denied any wrongdoing, saying, "Where is the corruption in this? We have paid Rs 55 crore. They (Formula-E) acknowledged the payment."

KTR, who was the municipal administration minister in the BRS regime, was instrumental in hosting the race in Hyderabad last year.

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

Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma had granted permission to the ACB to register the case against Rao.