Hyderabad, June 13 (IANS) The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has summoned Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President and former minister K.T. Rama Rao for questioning in the Formula E case on June 16.

The ACB has issued notice to Rama Rao, directing him to appear before it at 10 a.m. on Monday.

The anti-graft agency had earlier given him a notice to appear on May 28. The BRS leader, however, informed the agency that as he planned to leave for a foreign tour, he would appear before them after he returned.

“As a law-abiding citizen, will definitely cooperate with the agencies even though the case is nothing but pure political harassment. As I have planned to leave for the UK & USA for multiple events much in advance, will appear in front of them the moment I come back. Informed the same to ACB Officials in writing,” he had said in his statement on May 26.

KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, returned from the US in the first week of this month.

The former minister had appeared before the ACB on January 9 in the case relating to the conduct of the Formula E race in Hyderabad in January 2023, when the BRS was in power.

The ACB in December last year booked a case against KTR, former Special Chief Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD), Arvind Kumar and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority’s (HMDA) former Chief Engineer B.L.N. Reddy for alleged Rs. 54.88 crore irregularities in the Formula-E deal.

The FIR was registered on a complaint by Principal Secretary, MA&UD, M. Dana Kishore, who stated that foreign remittances were made without prior approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities, which resulted in additional tax burden to the HMDA to the tune of Rs. 8.06 crore.

The complainant also alleged that the payment was made while the Model Code of Conduct was in effect for the elections to the state Legislative Assembly without any prior approval of the Election Commission of India.

The FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

–IANS

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