HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader KT Rama Rao and others for questioning next month in connection with a money laundering case related to alleged payment irregularities during a Formula E race held in Hyderabad in February 2023, official sources said on Saturday.
The federal agency filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), or FIR, last week under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), based on a complaint from the Telangana Police Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and son of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, Rama Rao has been asked to depose for the recording of his statement on January 7, the sources said.
Senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and retired bureaucrat and former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) chief engineer BLN Reddy have also been summoned on January 2 and January 3, respectively, they added.
The probe against 48-year-old Rama Rao, popular as KTR, pertains to alleged payments of about Rs 55 crore, some of it in foreign currency without approvals, to conduct a Formula-E race in Hyderabad during the previous BRS regime in February 2023.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing possible foreign exchange violations in the case under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), as per the sources.
Rama Rao had denied any wrongdoing, saying, "Where is the corruption in this? We have paid Rs 55 crore. They (Formula-E) acknowledged the payment." He added that it was a "straightforward" account.
"The HMDA has an account in Indian Overseas Bank and money has been transferred from that account," he said while reacting to the ACB case.
BRS leader B Vinod Kumar said the case registered by the ED against Rao does not fall under PMLA.
He told PTI that the party would legally challenge the case, asserting that no money laundering had occurred and that the charges had no basis under the PMLA.
BRS leader Manne Krishank termed the Formula-E case against Rama Rao, also being probed by the Telangana government's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), as "politically motivated".
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy attacked Rama Rao for the alleged irregularities, saying about Rs 500 crore was saved with the state government under him deciding against further transfer of funds to the organisers of the racing event.
Rama Rao, who was the municipal administration minister in the BRS regime, was instrumental in hosting the race in Hyderabad last year.
Though the race was supposed to be held in February this year as well, it was cancelled after the Congress government assumed office in December 2023.
Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma recently granted permission to the ACB to register the case against Rama Rao.
