The Telangana High Court on Tuesday declined to quash the FIR against BRS working president KT Rama Rao in the Formula E race case, thereby lifting the earlier protection against his arrest.
The High Court had reserved its decision on December 31 after hearing arguments from both the state government and the defence. Earlier, the court had prohibited the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from arresting Rama Rao until the judgment was delivered. However, with the latest ruling, that restriction has been removed.
The ACB registered a case on December 19 against Rama Rao, also known as KTR, alleging irregularities in payments, including foreign currency transactions, to facilitate the Formula E race in 2023 under the previous regime. The case invokes relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), citing criminal misappropriation, misconduct, breach of trust, and conspiracy. These actions allegedly caused a financial loss of approximately Rs 55 crore to the state exchequer.
Although another race was planned for February 2024, it was canceled after the Congress government assumed office in December 2023. Rama Rao, who served as the Municipal Administration Minister in the previous BRS government, has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning on January 7 regarding alleged irregularities in organizing the event in Hyderabad.
The FIR lists Rama Rao as the prime accused, with senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and retired bureaucrat BLN Reddy named as co-accused (accused numbers 2 and 3, respectively).
