The Finish Line: ACB after KTR

Hyderabad: Political heat set to rise in the state. The slugfest between the ruling Congress and BRS will not end with the Assembly session. It may now spill onto the streets.

This situation arises as days after Governor Jishnu Dev Varma giving permission to prosecute BRS working president K T Rama Rao, the ACB filed an FIR against him over alleged irregularities in hosting the Formula-E race when he was the MA&UD minister. Speculations are rife that the probing agency may arrest KTR and two other officials in two or three days.

Two days ago, BRS leaders said the state would be on boil if KTR was arrested. KTR on Thursday said if the government had guts they should discuss the issue in the Assembly. Former minister T Harish Rao said if the government was questioned, false cases were foisted. KTR only tried to enhance state’s prestige by bringing Formula-E to the state.

KTR has been named the prime accused (A1) and former Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar and former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) Chief Engineer BLN Reddy as the second and third accused in the FIR.

According to the FIR, the BRS leader authorised payments to Formula-E organisers (FOE), a foreign company, without Cabinet clearance and the HMDA reportedly transferred Rs 45 crore in two installments into the accounts of the race organizers. The money has been transferred from a bank in the city to the foreign racing company.

The FIR explained that the transfer of money in the accounts of foreign companies was a violation of the RBI guidelines. As a result, the RBI imposed Rs 8 crore fine on the Telangana government which the present government had to pay soon after coming to power in December 2023.

During the preliminary enquiry, the ACB found that KTR, Arvind Kumar and BLN Reddy were allegedly involved in procedural violations, which led to a loss to the state exchequer.

"The three suspects who were involved in the transfer of money to Formula-E operations were supposed to take financial approvals from the Cabinet. Without taking Cabinet's approval, they transferred the money to the organizers," the FIR said.

It said, “Rs 54,88,87,043 was made as payment to the foreign company from the general funds of the HMDA. As per the procedure in the HMDA, an administration sanction for the expenditure of amounts exceeding Rs 10 lakh should be obtained from the government.”

The ACB charged KTR with the mismanagement of funds, breach of trust, and violations of the Prevention of Corruption Act and booked cases under various sections – 13 (1) (a) 13 (2) of Prevention Of Corruption Act -1998 and Sections 409 and 120.B.