A new twist was added to Telangana’s Formula E Race case on Thursday after an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court issued summons to former minister KT Rama Rao (KTR), senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar (IAS:1991:TG) and former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) Chief Engineer BLN Reddy in the case.
The court has directed all the accused to appear before it on July 31 in connection with alleged irregularities in the transfer of around Rs 55 crore to a foreign company during the conduct of the 2023 Formula E event in Hyderabad.
The court has formally admitted the chargesheet, filed by the ACB recently, for trial proceedings.
According to sources, the chargesheet names KTR as Accused No. 1, Arvind Kumar as A2, BLN Reddy as A3, sports consultant Kiran Malleswara Rao as A4, and Formula E Operations (FEO) as A5.
The Formula E race held in Hyderabad was promoted as a prestigious international sporting event aimed at boosting the city’s global profile, but questions were later raised over expenditure, contractual agreements, and the transfer of funds to the foreign event management company.
In a real sense, the controversy erupted over the transfer of approximately Rs 55 crore from HMDA accounts to the foreign-based Formula E Operations (FEO) company for conducting the race event.
The ACB has alleged that the funds were transferred without following mandatory government approvals and financial norms. As part of the investigation, ACB officials have already questioned KTR, Arvind Kumar, BLN Reddy, and representatives of the FEO company on the basis of which the ACB submitted the chargesheet before the court.
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