The Telangana Governor has granted sanction to prosecute BRS working president KT Rama Rao over alleged financial irregularities linked to the scrapped Formula E racing event. The approval, issued nearly ten weeks after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sought it on September 9, enables the agency to proceed with its chargesheet in what has become one of the state’s most politically sensitive cases.
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The controversy revolves around suspected mismanagement of Rs 54.88 crore during the previous BRS government for the Formula E race planned for February 2024, as per a report on India Today. The event was ultimately cancelled after the Congress came to power in December 2023, though Hyderabad had hosted the race in early 2023. Investigators allege that substantial payments — much of it in foreign currency — were released to organisers without adequate checks.
Rama Rao, who has already faced ACB questioning, has firmly denied any wrongdoing. Calling the allegations baseless, he maintained that transferring funds to the organisers was a legitimate administrative decision taken during his tenure as Municipal Administration Minister. He has repeatedly insisted that the money remained with the organisers and offered to undergo a lie-detector test to clear his name.
The case has sharpened political tensions in the state. Earlier this month, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy accused the Governor of intentionally delaying sanction and suggested that the BRS and BJP shared a covert understanding to protect former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, reported Deccan Chronicle. At a campaign rally on November 11, he further alleged that Rama Rao received Rs 50 crore in electoral bonds from a firm that was awarded a Formula E–related contract, claiming the ACB had sought permission to arrest him based on evidence collected.
Reddy also questioned the lack of action by central agencies on alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, asking why no sanction had been granted to proceed against KCR, Harish Rao or KT Rama Rao in cases raised by the Congress government.
