HYDERABAD: Governor Jishnu Dev Varma has granted consent for the prosecution of BRS working president KT Rama Rao in the Formula E race case, paving the way for the Anti-Corruption Bureau to move ahead and file a charge-sheet.
It is, however, still unclear whether ACB officials will summon KTR, the then minister for municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) for further questioning or proceed directly with filing the charge-sheet.
The decision has led to a political war of words in the state. While Congress leaders maintained that they “do not believe in vendetta politics,” BRS leaders accused the government of framing KTR in what they described as a “flimsy and fabricated” case.
With the Governor granting approval, the ACB is now set to file a charge-sheet against KTR and former HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy in the alleged Rs 54.88-crore quid pro quo case.
The second accused in the case is Special Chief Secretary and then Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar. Prosecuting an IAS officer requires mandatory approval from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Once the state government establishes a prima facie case, it must send a detailed proposal — including the officer’s version — to the DoPT. If the DoPT fails to respond within the stipulated period, permission is deemed to have been granted.
According to official sources, the state government forwarded its request for prosecution of Arvind Kumar 75 days ago. If no response is received in the next 15 days, the ACB may proceed against him as well.
The case originated from a complaint filed by Municipal Administration Secretary Dana Kishore with the ACB on October 18, 2024. The complaint alleged serious irregularities in the Formula E race agreement, including the payment of Rs 54.88 crore — reportedly in violation of RBI regulations — by the HMDA to Formula E Operations Limited (FEO) without obtaining Cabinet approval.
It was also alleged that part of the payment was made in US dollars, bypassing procedural and financial norms.
ACB likely to file charge-sheet in Formula E race case
The transaction was linked to a tripartite agreement signed on October 25, 2022, involving the Municipal Administration Department as one of the parties.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, during the recent Jubilee Hills bypoll campaign, had criticised Raj Bhavan for allegedly delaying approval to prosecute Rama Rao, claiming that the file had been pending for over two months.
Rama Rao, on the other hand, dismissed the case as politically motivated, asserting that prosecution permission from the Governor was unnecessary since the ACB had already filed a charge-sheet earlier — a claim disputed by the government.
The ACB has already questioned him four times. Separately, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing alleged money laundering and FEMA violations, and has examined him once.
The primary allegation is that HMDA transferred Rs 54.88 crore to FEO in October 2023 without adhering to financial rules or RBI permissions. At the time, Rama Rao was the Municipal Administration minister (A-1), Arvind Kumar the secretary (A-2), and BLN Reddy a senior HMDA official (A-3).
The road ahead
With the Governor’s approval now in hand, the ACB is expected to file its charge-sheet shortly. It remains to be seen whether investigators will summon Rama Rao again or file a preliminary charge-sheet based on existing evidence. A further question is whether the charge-sheet will be filed only after the DoPT clears prosecution of Arvind Kumar.
The ED, meanwhile, is likely to take cognisance of the ACB’s charge-sheet and proceed with its own investigation into alleged FEMA violations and money laundering.