Hyderabad, Dec 27 The Telangana High Court on Friday extended till December 31 its orders barring the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from arresting Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and former minister K.T. Rama Rao in the Formula-E race case.
The court took up a hearing on the quash petition filed by Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR. The ACB filed a counter to the petition and pleaded to the court to set aside the interim orders, barring it from arresting KTR.
The High Court adjourned the hearing to December 31 and extended operation of its interim order till the next hearing.
The High Court on December 20 had directed the ACB not to arrest KTR till December 30.
While granting relief to KTR, the court allowed the investigation to continue and directed the state government to file its counter by December 23. The court had adjourned the hearing to December 27.
The ACB on December 29 booked a case against KTR, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) former chief engineer B.L.N. Reddy for alleged irregularities in organising the Formula E-car race last year.
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act on allegations of financial irregularities in conducting the Formula-E race when BRS was in power.
The FIR was registered on a complaint by M. Dana Kishore, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development. This followed permission given by Governor Jishnu Dev Varma at a request by the state government.
The ACB registered the FIR registered under Sections 13(1)(A) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with Sections 409 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant alleged payment of over Rs.54.88 crore was made to UK-based Formula-E Operations Limited (FEO) and others in “gross violation of established procedures”.
It is alleged that at the direction of then industry minister Rama Rao, the HMDA transferred money to FEO in violation of RBI guidelines. The payment was allegedly made without obtaining approval.
On December 25, the ACB recorded the statement of Dana Kishore. The anti-graft agency is said to be preparing the grounds for issuing notices to KTR and others.
KTR has denied the allegations of corruption and accused the Congress government of political vendetta. He claimed that the Formula-E race was hosted to make Telangana the hub of electric vehicles.
After the ACB registered FIR, the Enforcement Directorate also registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against KTR, Arvind Kumar and B.L.N. Reddy.
The ED is probing the allegations of violations of PMLA and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in transferring money to a foreign entity.
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