In a major development in the Formula E race case, fraught with political ramifications, the Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed a charge sheet, naming the former minister and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao as the prime accused.
The charge sheet, filed before the ACB court in Hyderabad, also names senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar, former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority chief engineer BLN Reddy, and two others as the accused in the case related to the alleged irregularities in the payment of ₹55 crore, mostly in foreign currency, for the Formula E race planned for 2024 during the previous BRS government.
The payment allegedly violated the established procedures.
The race was held in Hyderabad in February 2023, while the second edition, scheduled for 2024, was cancelled after the Congress government assumed office in December 2023.
In December 2024, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered a case against Rama Rao, who was then the municipal administration minister, Kumar, and Reddy under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code, for charges including criminal misappropriation, breach of trust, and conspiracy.
The then governor Jishnu Dev Varma had granted sanction for the prosecution of Rama Rao in November last year, while the Centre cleared the prosecution of Arvind Kumar last month.
Crux of the case
The case is related to alleged financial irregularities in funding one of the four seasons of the Formula E races in Hyderabad. To conduct the race, the Municipal Administration department had signed a tripartite agreement with Formula E Organisers (FEO) and Ace Nxt Gen Pvt limited in 2022. The ninth season of the car race was held in Hyderabad on February 10 and 11, 2023.
The promoter, Ace Nxt Gen, which was supposed to finance four seasons of the Formula E Race, dropped out unilaterally in the second season, citing losses in the first season. As the FEO was willing to organise the second season, the then Principal Secretary of the Municipal Administration Department Arvind Kumar, on the advice of KTR, transferred ₹55 crore to the FEO.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) then transferred the amount after dropping Ace Next Gen as the promoter. The government later included HMDA as the promoter.
The HMDA then entered into an MoU with FEO on 30 October 2023, which is considered another irregularity.
The other alleged irregularities included making payment of one tranche of money to FEO after the issue of the schedule for Assembly elections in Telangana without obtaining permission from the Election Commission and making payment to FEO in pounds without obtaining clearance from the RBI.
Soon after coming to power in December 2023, the Congress government has been digging into the alleged omissions and commissions of the previous regime and ordering probes into some of them.
The Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has been insisting that he would not resort to political vendetta against anyone, but he reiterated that if anyone had committed anything wrong, the law would take its course.
KTR unfazed
The BRS leader, however, remains unfazed by the allegations. The opposition leader said that after Ace Nxt Gen dropped out, he had asked the Municipal Administration Department to fill in for the promoter company till such time the FEO found a new promoter.
“I have not done anything wrong. I am prepared to go to jail. I will do yoga in jail for two months and come out slim and fit,” he asserted.
The former minister said he had advised the then municipal administration secretary to pay the amount to FEO to prevent Hyderabad’s brand image from taking a hit. He said the Congress government scrapped the project, suspecting that he was a beneficiary of the project, which was baseless.
Also read: KTR alleges ₹5 lakh cr land scam under Revanth govt
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