Formula E race case: Telangana Guv gives nod for prosecution of BRS leader Rama Rao

Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma has given nod to the state government for the prosecution of BRS Working President K T Rama Rao in the Formula E race case, official sources said on Thursday.

The Telangana government's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), probing the Formula-E race case, sought the state government's permission in September this year to prosecute Rao, who is an MLA, and two others accused.

Apart from Rao, the prime accused, the ACB had written to the government seeking its permission to prosecute senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) chief engineer B L N Reddy.

Sources, however, said on Thursday that permission for the prosecution of Kumar was yet to be received from the Central government's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

The charge sheet in the case is expected to be filed on the offences framed against Rao and other accused, they said.

Rao had earlier downplayed the Formula E race case and said he is ready for a lie-detector test.

He had said it was his decision to transfer the money on behalf of the government to the race organisers. His intention was to see that the race take place in Hyderabad to promote the prestige of the city, he said.

The money sent by the government lies with the organisers and there is no corruption in the matter, Rao claimed.

Senior BRS MLA T Harish Rao said the governor's nod for prosecution of his cousin Rama Rao is peak of political vendetta against the latter.

''It is atrocious that Chief Minister @revanth_anumula, who holds a constitutional position, is attempting to silence voices who question him,'' Harish Rao said in a post on 'X'.

BRS would stand by Rao and it would face CM Revanth Reddy's ''wickedness'' legally, he said.

Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the CM should now answer how the state government intends to proceed on the matter in view of the governor granting permission for the prosecution of Rao.

Alleging a tacit understanding between the ruling Congress and BRS, he said both parties try to defame BJP.

During the recent bypoll to Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency, CM Revanth Reddy had alleged that the BRS and BJP have an ''adhesive bond'' and that the file to prosecute Rao in Formula E race case was held up with the governor, indicating a tacit understanding between the two parties.

Dismissing allegations of political vendetta, state Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud said the law would take its own course in the case.

Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar should state the reasons for the alleged delay in governor granting permission for the prosecution of Rao, Goud said.

The Formula-E race was held in Hyderabad in February 2023. Although the second edition of the race was initially planned for 2024, it was cancelled after the Congress government assumed office in December 2023.

The probe against Rao pertains to alleged irregularities in payments amounting to about Rs 55 crore, most of which were in foreign currency, in ''violation of laid-down procedures'' during the previous BRS regime, for the event planned for 2024.

In December 2024, the ACB registered a case against Rao, Kumar, and Reddy.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)