Formula E Race case | Supreme Court says no to quash petition of KTR

Supreme Court dismisses KTR's petition against Telangana High Court's order that refused to quash the FIR in Formula E Race case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 15, 2025) dismissed the quash petition filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao against the Telangana High Court’s order that refused to quash the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Telangana Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the Formula E Race case.

The Supreme Court refused to intervene and stay the order given by the High Court. Earlier, the High Court dismissed the criminal petition of KTR seeking a direction to quash the criminal case registered against him by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) over alleged misappropriation of funds in the Formula E Race.

The case goes back to October 25, 2022 when Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department entered into a tripartite agreement with Formula E Operations (FEO) Limited and Ace Nxt Gen Private Limited (sponsor) for conducting Formula E races for 9, 10, 11 and 12 seasons in Hyderabad. KTR was the Minister of MA&UD when the agreement was made. 

The ACB filed an FIR on December 19, 2024, for criminal breach of trust in the case. Questioning the FIR, KTR moved the High Court that initially provided him relief from arrest till January 7, 2025. However, it refused to quash the FIR and asked him to cooperate with investigation in the case.

As a part of the investigation, KTR was questioned by the ACB for over six hours on January 9. Earlier, former principal secretary of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Arvind Kumar too was questioned on the transfer of money without proper procedures.

The ‘Season 9’ of the race was held on February 11, 2023, when the BRS government was in power. However, the event backed out citing financial losses. Then the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which was under Mr. KTR’s Ministry transferred about Rs 55 crore to FEO.

The money transfer was done without the mandatory approvals from the Finance department. Moreover, money was transferred in Pounds without seeking permissions from the agencies regulating foreign remittances.