ACB Summons to KTR, Arvind, BLN

Hyderabad: The special court dealing with Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) cases has summoned BRS working president and former municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao in connection with the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the Formula E race case during the BRS regime in 2023.

Along with Rama Rao the court also summoned senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar, HMDA former chief engineer B.L.N. Reddy, sports consultant Govenda Kiran Malleswara Rao and Formula E Operations Ltd, represented by Alberto Longo. All the accused have been directed to appear before the court on July 31 this year.

The summons were issued after the ACB court took cognisance of the chargesheet recently filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau regarding the alleged misappropriation of Rs 54.88 crore of public funds by transferring the amount to a foreign company associated with the Formula E event without obtaining Cabinet approval.

In the last week of March 2026, the ACB submitted the chargesheet before the ACB court following the FIR registered in 2024. The in-charge judge of the ACB court took cognisance of the chargesheet and issued summons to all the accused directing them to appear before the court.

The ACB had filed the chargesheet on March 23 this year naming Rama Rao as Accused No. 1 (A1), Arvind Kumar as A2, B.L.N. Reddy as A3, sports consultant Malleswara Rao as A4 and Formula E Operations as A5.

The case centres on the transfer of funds from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to Formula E Operations for organising the international electric car racing event held in Hyderabad in 2023.

In an informal interaction with mediapersons at his residence on May 11, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had clarified his stand on the case, stating that there was no political vendetta in the matter. He said the government had followed all due procedure before the chargesheet was filed against the accused.

Revanth Reddy stated that the ACB had secured approval from the Governor for prosecution of Rama Rao and from the Union Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) approval for prosecution of IAS officer Arvind Kumar. He said further action in the case would depend on the judiciary’s orders.

The Chief Minister had said that the Formula E-car race scam was not limited to the Rs 55 crore already paid and claimed that the losses could have mounted to nearly Rs 600 crore if the Congress government had not intervened in 2024.

Though the BRS did not officially respond to the ACB summons, party insiders described the developments as a “diversion tactic” by the Revanth Reddy government to shift public attention from the ongoing episode involving Bandi Sai Bageerath, who was booked under the Pocso Act.