On Wednesday, the Supreme Court decided not to look into a request by K T Rama Rao, the working president of the BRS party, to cancel an FIR filed against him in connection with the Formula E race. After the judges, Bela M Trivedi and Prasanna B Varale, said they wouldn’t change the high court’s decision, Rao’s lawyer decided to drop the appeal, and the case was dismissed.
Earlier, on January 7, the high court refused to cancel the FIR, which meant Rao could be arrested. The high court had heard arguments from both Rao’s lawyer and the state government regarding this case, which was started by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). They claimed Rao had approved payments of about Rs 55 crore to Formula E Organisation without getting necessary approvals.
The high court pointed out that Rao may have instructed the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to pay large amounts to a foreign company without permission from the state cabinet or finance department. The court mentioned that there should be an investigation to see if Rao acted dishonestly for his own benefit or someone else’s.
The ACB registered a case against Rao on December 19 last year for possibly causing a loss of Rs 55 crore to the state. The race planned for February 2024 was canceled when the Congress party took over the government in December 2023. Rao, who used to be the municipal administration minister, was called in by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning about these issues but asked for more time. He is the main suspect in the FIR, while senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and retired bureaucrat B L N Reddy are also named in the case.
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