Hyderabad: BRS executive president KT Rama Rao (KTR) appeared before the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday in connection with the Formula-E race case. He reached the ACB office at 10.10 am.
It is understood that ACB officials questioned KTR for about six and a half hours. KTR told reporters that he has answered all the questions asked by ACB. He said that he has cooperated with the authorities in every way and will come for the inquiry no matter how many times they call him.
KTR, son of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, said that he told the investigating officers that "this is a worst case". He pointed out that only four questions were asked in 40 different ways.
KTR said that ACB officials did not ask any new questions. He said to the officials that, this is a case of political partisanship. Today KTR walked out of the ACB office, located in Banjara Hills here, at around 5.15 PM.
Worked tirelessly for bringing a prestigious event to India, to enhance the Brand image of Hyderabad & Telangana globally
— KTR (@KTRBRS) January 9, 2025
Agenda was to make Hyderabad a pivotal hub for sustainable mobility as the world transitions towards it. Formula-E race was a part of the effort to realise… pic.twitter.com/JhqimVe9TI
Advocate Ramachandra Rao was also present with KTR, in a separate room, during the questioning. The investigating officer of the case DSP Majeed Khan questioned KTR. ACB Joint Director Ritiraj supervised the investigation, sources said.
While KTR was talking to the media outside the ACB office after the investigation, DCP Vijay Kumar suggested that he should leave the place. KTR expressed his anger on this. Later he went to Telangana Bhavan from there.
He was summoned by the ACB for questioning on the alleged "unauthorised" payments to conduct the Formula-E race. It is learnt that the Telangana High Court allowed the former minister to take a lawyer with him during the trial.
The court, however, made it clear that the advocate would not be present in the same room where the ACB sleuths would be examining Rao. The advocate can sit in a room where he can see his client and the investigating officer and observe the proceedings, the court had said.
Officials and police were alerted about the investigation and heavy security was arranged at the ACB office. ACB officials are questioning KTR for his alleged role in the agreement and the orders issued by him in the cash payments to the foreign company based on Senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar's statement and the recorded material.
Ahead of his appearance before the ACB, KTR said the agenda during his ministership was to make Hyderabad a hub for sustainable mobility as the world transitions towards it and the Formula-E race was a part of that ambitious vision.
"Worked tirelessly to bring a prestigious event to India, to enhance the brand image of Hyderabad & Telangana globally. (My) agenda was to make Hyderabad a pivotal hub for sustainable mobility as the world transitions towards it. Formula-E race was a part of the effort to realise this ambitious vision," he said in a post on 'X'.
He further said the intent was to make TMV (Telangana Mobility Valley) clusters the epicentre for innovation, research and manufacturing of electric vehicles creating employment and revenue.
"Small minds who are driven by petty politics may never understand any of this, but I am confident that people of Telangana who are observing everything will understand the truth and the vision. Truth always triumphs & justice will prevail," he said.
Kumar, one of the accused in the case, appeared before the ACB on Wednesday. High drama unfolded at the Telangana ACB headquarters on January 6 after KTR, summoned in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Formula-E race case, was denied the assistance of his lawyer, prompting him to submit his statement outside the office.
He refused to be questioned by the anti-graft agency and left the office without appearing before the officials. He handed over his written statement to an ACB official outside the office. The agency had issued him a fresh summon for January 9.
The ACB in December 2024 registered a case against Rao, who was Municipal Administration Minister during the BRS regime, and two others over alleged payments, most of it in foreign currency without approvals, to conduct the race in 2023 during the previous BRS 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 a 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.
Meanwhile, KT Rama Rao has approached the Supreme Court, challenging the Telangana High Court order, which rejected his plea for quashing an FIR in the alleged Formula-E case.
According to a counsel familiar with the development, the plea was mentioned today before a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for an urgent hearing. However, the bench said it will take up the matter on January 15. The plea filed by Rao, through advocate P. Mohith Rao, said that a false case was filed by the ACB in Telangana.
The plea said the High Court order is liable to be set aside as its reasoning is completely absurd, erroneous and contrary to the established principles laid down by the apex court.
The plea contended that the High Court has completely forgotten the powers conferred under Section 528 BNSS as the allegations in the present FIR even taken at the face of it does not constitute commission of any offence much less prima facie offence, as such the FIR ought to be quashed.
The plea said, "Because the FIR doesn’t disclose commission of any offence much less prima facie offence as the recitals of the FIR discloses that there was contractual obligation between the parties and the money was paid to Formula E Operations Ltd., (FEO) after receiving invoices from the organizer through a legal channel of bank transfer from the bank account of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to the bank account of Formula E Operations Ltd., (FEO) as such there is no fraudulent intention to cause loss to the State’s Exchequer as allegedly claimed by the prosecution in the First Information Report".
The plea said the alleged tax burden of Rs. 8,06,75,404 for withholding tax for the two instalments cannot be a ground to register the FIR for two reasons namely it was agreed in both the tripartite agreement (1st agreement) and also in the agreement dated October 27, 2023) at Clause 3.1 of payments in Schedule II that the payments shall be transferred in British pounds without deducting or liability for taxes or otherwise and also for a reason that the race never took place due to the failure of the successive government to abide by the contractual obligation and in anyway the withholding of tax liability cannot be fastened upon the petitioner being the then Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department.
The Telangana High Court had earlier dismissed KTR’s plea to quash the ACB case, revoking its interim orders that prevented his arrest. (With inputs from Sumit Saxena)
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