The Telangana High Court reserved its order on the quash petition of BRS Working President KT Rama Rao in the Formula-E race case and directed the ACB not to arrest him till orders are given.
The High Court also extended the operation of its interim order barring the ACB from arresting KT Rama Rao till the pronouncement of the final order.
Justice Lakshman reserved the order after hearing the arguments of KT Rama Rao’s counsel Siddhartha Dave and Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy on Tuesday.
The ACB had booked a case on December 29 against KT Rama Rao, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and former HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy for alleged irregularities in organising the Formula E-car race in 2023.
KT Rama Rao filed the petition, seeking orders to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the ACB. Arguing on behalf of the ACB, the Advocate General told the court that Rs 46 crore in British Pounds were paid to Formula-E Operations Limited (FEO) violating rules even before the signing of an agreement for season 10 of the Formula-E car race.
When the court enquired about the status of the investigation, the AG informed that it is in the preliminary stage. The court was also told that the ACB recorded the statement of
M. Dana Kishore, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, who is the complainant in the case.
The High Court was also informed that the FIR was registered after the Governor granted permission for the same. The government counsel submitted to the court that HMDA required permission from the Finance Department for payment of amounts exceeding Rs 10 crore, but in this case, it made a payment of Rs 54 crore without any approval.
The court was told that Secretariat Business Rules were not followed in the matter and that the then minister KT Rama Rao had signed the note file. His counsel Siddhartha Dave argued that the sections invoked by the ACB in the FIR were not valid. He submitted to the Bench that it was not proper to name KT Rama Rao as an accused in the case.
He also said that the Secretary of the Municipal Administration Department had signed the agreement for the Formula-E race. The BRS leader’s counsel contended that the ACB has not provided any evidence of corruption. He told the court that KTR was not the beneficiary.
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.
