The Anti-Corruption Bureau of Telangana has booked former IT Minister and BRS working president K. Taraka Rama Rao alias KTR as Accused No.1 in the high-profile Formula E car race case which has been the bone of contention between the ruling and the Opposition parties in the state. Former Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) principal secretary Arvind Kumar was named the second accused and former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) chief engineer BLN Reddy the third accused.
KTR served as Minister for MAUD when the BRS was in power. The inaugural event was held in February 2023 amid massive hype and hoopla with an investment of 200 Crores by sponsors like Greenco and Hyderabad Racing Limited. The BRS government planned to organise the season 10 in February 2024. However, due to the Model Code of Conduct, it needed to get approvals from Election Commission and the finance department. It was alleged that Arvind Kumar advanced around 55 Crores from the HMDA funds to FEO without approval, in violation of HMDA and state government protocols.
Due to change of guard in the aftermath of December 2023 polls, the event was immediately cancelled by Revanth Reddy’s government. Later on, investigations revealed prima facie evidence that crores of money was siphoned off to organise this event. Arvind Kumar admitted that verbal instructions were given to him by the then minister.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau had recently sought Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma’s nod to investigate KTR in the Formula E case. The Bureau has alleged that, as the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) minister, Mr Rao had given oral instructions for the transfer of Rs 55 crore to one of the race’s organisers, bypassing laid-down procedures.
After getting prior approval, the ACB has implicated KTR as A1 and launched a thorough probe into the alleged irregularities. KTR, however, denied the allegations and criticised the Congress government for resorting to political vendetta. He denied the accusations and challenged the Chief Minister for an open debate on the matter.
During the ongoing assembly sessions, KTR came to know about the development and once again openly challenged that he is willing to debate about the allegations.
