Former Telangana minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao is all set to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Formula E race scam tomorrow at 10:30 am after his quash petition before the Supreme Court was withdrawn today. Rao faced a setback in his legal fight when the Supreme Court refused to intervene and stay the order of the Telangana High Court but allowed the withdrawal of the petition upon the request of Rao’s counsel.

Rao has already faced a seven-hour interrogation by the sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Telangana police on 9 January.

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ED had initially sent a notice to Rao to appear on 7 January after registering an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) equivalent to an FIR in ED’s parlance, based on the ACB’s FIR in the Formula E scam case. However, the BRS leader had filed a quash petition in the High Court which was subsequently dismissed. The ED, then, sent another notice again asking him to appear on 16 January. With the apex court refusing to put a stay order on the investigations against Rao he does not have much option but to appear before the central agency for interrogation.

The ED has already interrogated the accused 2, the then municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) secretary Arvind Kumar, and the chief engineer of HMDA, BLN Reddy.

The ED is likely to interrogate Rao on the basis of the statements given by the two bureaucrats. Although the former minister has maintained that there has been no corruption and the state government stepped in to save the state’s image after the official sponsor backed off the Governor gave his consent to prosecute Rao after seeking legal advice. The High Court also found prima facie wrongdoing which merits an investigation. Today the apex court upheld the High Court’s judgment.

The case rests on the transfer of about Rs 55 crore to the organisers of the Formula E race by the BRS government without following procedures when the official sponsors backed out of the race slated for 2024. The race was subsequently cancelled by the Congress government and an FIR was filed against Rao and the two bureaucrats.