The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau has summoned BRS working president KT Rama Rao on 6 January to appear before it for questioning over the Formula E race scam. The Enforcement Directorate has already summoned Rao to appear before the central agency on 7 January in connection with the same case. The quash petition filed by the BRS leader against the FIR registered by ACB is pending in court but he cannot be arrested by ACB till the judgment is pronounced by the judge.
Since there was no bar on investigations in the case, the ACB summoned Rao at 10 am on 6 January, just a day before the ED summoned him. The ACB had filed the primary FIR in the case after receiving a complaint from Dana Kishore, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Secretary over the irregularities in the payment of Rs 55 crore to organizers in foreign currency, violating several norms. This also brought the case to the notice of ED which investigates money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. ACB named Rao as the main accused followed by former MAUD secretary Arvind Kumar and HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy. Both the bureaucrats were also summoned by ED on 2 and 3 January but have sought more time from the central agency.
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Rao has, though, maintained that there was no corruption involved in the Formula E deal and this was a case of political vendetta. However, the Governor had given his approval for prosecuting Rao which was mandatory in this case. Rao also claimed that he had directed the release of the money to the organizers from HMDA’s coffers only after the sponsors had backed out from holding the event. After coming to power ,the Congress government promptly cancelled the Formula E race.
