The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau has registered an FIR against former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao and IAS officer Arvind Kumar under the Prevention of Corruption Act for alleged irregularities in the Formula E race case. The case was booked after Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari wrote to DG(ACB) Vijay Kumar to initiate a probe against Rao for alleged irregularities of Rs 55 crore which were paid to the race organizers by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) without clearance from the Cabinet and violating RBI guidelines. Rao, popularly known as KTR, has indicated he will not seek anticipatory bail while dismissing the allegations as trumped up. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has announced another probe by a special investigation team (SIT) in the tenders issued by the previous BRS government for the Outer Ring Road.

While KTR was designated as accused number one (A1) in the case, the then municipal affairs and urban development secretary, Arvind Kumar, was named as accused number two (A2) followed by HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy (A3). The ACB has formed a special team to probe the case against Rao and Arvind Kumar. It has been alleged that Rs 55 crore was transferred to the organizers of Formula E race for conducting the second edition without approvals from Cabinet or the finance department. However, after the BRS lost, the race was cancelled by the Congress government under A Revanth Reddy.

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The case was registered after the state Cabinet directed Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari to write to ACB to initiate a probe in the Formula E case. The matter came up for discussion in the state Cabinet after the Governor Jishnu Dev Verma gave his approval to proceed against the former minister. The Governor had sought legal counsel before approving the file.

Unperturbed by the charges against him, BRS working president KT Rama Rao today urged the Assembly Speaker to allow a discussion on the Formula E race to clarify the issue after it was reported that the FIR has been registered against him. “They said some scam happened in the Formula E Race. Take up the discussion, I am ready to answer all the queries,” said Rao.