The court reserved its judgement on KTR's plea seeking to quash the ACB's first information report against him.
Published Dec 31, 2024 | 6:51 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 31, 2024 | 6:51 PM
BRS working president KT Rama Rao. (File pic)
Extending the interim relief granted to BRS working president and former IT minister KT Rama Rao, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday, 31 December, ordered that the politician should not be arrested until it disposed of the Formula E Race case.
A bench of Justice K Lakshman issued the directive extending the “not to arrest” interim relief while hearing KTR’s petition, requesting the court to quash the first information report the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had filed against him.
The court ordered the extension even as the interim relief granted earlier was to expire on Tuesday. The bench, while reserving its verdict on KTR’s plea, did not prevent the ACB from continuing its investigation into the case.
While arguing in the court, KTR’s counsel Senior Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Siddharth Dave questioned why Formula E Operations (FEO) to whom ₹46 crore (excluding taxes) had been transferred, was not included in the list of accused.
The senior advocate argued that KTR was not the beneficiary of the money transferred to FEO.
He said that though the ACB was contending that the corruption took place in the transfer of funds, it had not specified how it had happened. The ACB has been insisting that procedures were flouted but mere flouting of a rule cannot constitute the commission of a crime.
Dave also held that there was no substance in the argument that public money was misused.
He said KTR was included in the list of the accused because he signed the file that facilitated the government entering into an agreement in 2022. He questioned how one could become an accused just because one facilitates the signing of an agreement.
Dave sought to know if the state government was banned from signing agreements with companies outside India. He recalled that the money that had been released was transferred through banking channels to the foreign company.
On the charge that KTR did not obtain the clearance from the Election Commission also did not hold water since the money was transferred based on the original agreement signed in 2022, Dave argued.
Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy, appearing for the ACB, argued that KTR had ordered payment of the money to FEO even before the agreement was signed last year for the conduct of the 10th edition of the Formula E Race in February 2024.
All rules in force were flouted while transferring the money to the FEO. Reddy apprised the court that though the case was in preliminary stages, all details would come out soon. The investigation agency had the freedom to list more people as accused if it unearthed evidence against them or drop existing accused if there was not enough evidence.
He informed the court that the statement of the present principal secretary of Municipal Administration Dana Kishore had been recorded and that no one listed as accused in the case had been arrested.
Reddy also recalled that the Enforcement Directorate has also issued a notice to KTR to appear before it on 7 January. He said there was no explanation in the agreement of how the state would get benefit by organising the E Prix in Hyderabad.
Senior Advocate CP Mohan Reddy, appearing for Dana Kishore, said KTR had approved the transfer of HDMA funds to FEO and that officials obliged him as they worked under the direct supervision of the minister.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
