Telangana HC Declines To Quash FIR Against BRS Leader KTR In Formula E Race Case

The ACB on December 19 registered a case against Rama Rao (KTR) over alleged payments some of it in foreign currency without approvals to conduct the race in 2023 during the previous regime.

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.

Source : X

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday refused to quash the FIR against BRS working president KT Rama Rao in connection with the Formula E race case, removing the protection against the arrest given to 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.

"Whether the petitioner directed the said payments with a dishonest intention to cause gain to himself or third parties is required to be investigated. The allegations when read together make out a prima facie case of wrongdoing and misappropriation of funds of the HMDA," the order said.

The ACB on December 19 registered a case against Rama Rao, also known as 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.

Rama Rao, 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. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)