HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday directed authorities not to arrest BRS working president KT Rama Rao till December 30, 2024 while allowing the investigation in the Formula-E race case to proceed.
Hearing a lunch motion petition filed by Rama Rao seeking quashing of the proceedings against him, Justice NV Shravan Kumar directed the respondents - ACB and MAUD Principal Secretary M Dana Kishore - to file their counters by December 27, the next date of hearing.
The case pertains to allegations of procedural violations and financial irregularities in the conduct of the Formula-E race in Hyderabad.
The ACB registered the case as Crime No.12/RCO-CIU ACB-2024 under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the IPC, naming Rama Rao as Accused No. 1 (A-1).
The complaint, filed by Dana Kishore, alleges that the HMDA transferred Rs 54.88 crore to Formula-E Operations Ltd. (FEO) and other entities without necessary administrative approvals. It accuses Rama Rao and two government officials of conspiring to cause wrongful loss to the state exchequer and gain for third parties.
Appearing for Rama Rao, senior counsel A Sundaram alleged that the case was politically motivated and lacked merit. He highlighted the absence of evidence showing personal pecuniary benefit to his client or conspiracy with private entities. Sundaram argued that the complaint and FIR were registered hastily without preliminary inquiry and cited Supreme Court precedents to support the plea to quash the FIR.
For the state, Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy contended that the payments deviated from government business rules and lacked requisite permissions. He highlighted that the Governor sanctioned proceedings against Rama Rao on December 17 and emphasised the need for a detailed inquiry to uncover the truth and urged the court not to quash the FIR at this stage.
After hearing both sides, Justice Shravan Kumar granted the interim relief.
The charges
Foreign remittances made without regulatory clearance, incurring an additional tax burden of Rs 8.06 crore
Payments processed after the unilateral termination of agreement with FEO on October 27, 2023
New agreement was executed at a time the Model Code of Conduct for the 2023 elections was in force
It was done without EC approval and the amounts transferred prior to the second agreementKTR challenges Revanth to debate Formula-E race allegations in Assembly
