ED Issues Notice To KTR In Formula E Race Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today issued notices to BRS working president K T Rama Rao (A1) to appear before it for questioning on January 7 in the Formula E racing case.

The ED has also sent notices to IAS officer Arvind Kumar (A2) and former HMDA Chief Engineer B L N Reddy (A3) in the case to appear before it on January 2 and 3, respectively.

The ACB has handed over to the ED details including the records of the Finance Ministry, the details of the HMDA's payments, the agreement documents signed by the HMDA and an FIR of the Formula E racing case.

In another development, the Telangana High Court yesterday heard the quash petition filed by KTR and ordered that the BRS leader not be arrested until December 31.

The ACB too had filed its own petition seeking the lift of the non-arrest order against KTR, and the court ordered KTR and the State government to file counter-affidavits in the case.

The ACB also filed a counter in the High Court in the Formula E racing case. The ACB claimed that KTR was involved in criminal misappropriation of government money and criminal misconduct. It alleged that KTR had pressurised the officials to make the payments without the Cabinet's decision and the finance department's approval. It said that Rs 55 crore was transferred to a foreign company without permission, and that it had resulted in an additional burden of Rs 8 crore on HMDA.

"To ask for the case to be dismissed on irrelevant grounds is to obstruct the investigation. An FIR was registered against KTR only after obtaining permission from the relevant authorities. The municipal department has clearly said that the business rules were violated when the contracts were signed. It is false to claim that the case was registered due to political vendetta or pressure on the authorities. The petition filed by KTR does not deserve to be heard," it said.

The ACB also said that it was not right to demand that the case be dismissed as the process of registration of the FIR was delayed. It said that there was a Supreme Court order that a case could be registered without a preliminary inquiry in case of serious allegations.