New Delhi: A corruption case has been lodged against former Telangana minister KT Rama Rao Rao in connection with alleged irregularities in the Formula E car race in Hyderabad. He has been accused of misuse of government funds under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC. The cabinet clearance for the case came on Monday.
It has been alleged that ₹ 45 crore was paid by HMDA to the foreign company FEO in violation of the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India.
The payments were reportedly made without obtaining approvals from the state cabinet or the Finance Department.
The RBI imposed a fine of ₹ 8 crore on the then Telangana government for unauthorized transactions, which was later paid by the Congress government after coming to power.
KT Rama Rao is accused of directing the misuse of authority as the Municipal Administration and Urban Development minister, while IAS officer Arvind Kumar and former Hyderabad Municipal Development Authority Chief Engineer BLN Reddy are also implicated.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau, which filed the case, earlier alleged that ₹ 55 crore was paid to the Formula E organisers by the state government on the verbal orders of Mr Rao.
Mr Rao has alleged that he is being targeted by the Congress government of Revanth Reddy, which came to power in the state last year, ending the 10-year rule of Bharat Rashtra Samithi or BRS, led by Mr Rao’s father and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
In an open letter to Mr Reddy yesterday, Mr Rao said, “If you have the courage, initiate a discussion on the Formula-E race issue in the state assembly”.
“Instead of having closed-door discussions, the truth about this matter should come out before the four crore people of Telangana through a debate in the State Assembly,” he added.
He claimed the agreement was completely transparent, all payments to the organizers were made in a transparent manner and there is no irregularity or corruption involved in the matter.
“I have already explained this in detail earlier. However, your government has not stopped its false propaganda,” he added.
