"Frivolous, abuse of law, politically motivated": KTR on Formula-E case

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], January 9 (ANI): BRS Working President and MLA KT Rama Rao on Thursday vehemently denied allegations of corruption made against him by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) over the Formula E race case and called it 'frivolous' and and 'abuse of law process.'
After his appearance before ACB today, in connection with the Formula-E race case, KTR claimed that he was repeatedly asked the same questions for over seven hours, despite having no substantial evidence to back the charges.
KTR alleged that the case filed against him was 'frivolous' and 'illegal' and was hoisted on him because the BRS was fighting against the state government.
Speaking to ANI, KTR said, "They (ACB) have no case. It's a frivolous case. I told them it was an abuse of the process of law. I also told them that when there is no case, you can't make a case. They kept asking the same question over and over again for almost 80 times. But to their peril, they have zero case in this."
KTR alleged that the charges against him were politically motivated, driven by the Telangana Chief Minister's desire to target him personally.
"I asked them (ACB) where is the corruption in this. I have done whatever I have done as a minister, in full consciousness, to ensure Hyderabad and Telangana are put on the world stage. If you are going to accuse me and make a case out of this, it is probably just the sadistic pleasure of the CM and nothing more," said KTR.
Adding further, he said, "I cooperated for more than 7 hours and I told them I would come back whenever they summoned me again. But I would like to appeal to the people of Telangana, this frivolous case, the illegal case has been hoisted on me purely because of one thing - we have been against this govt, its failures, atrocities, incompetence, misgovernance for the last one year."
He accused the government of using the case as a tool to suppress political opposition and said, "They are trying to file illegal cases on me. This is not my fight. This is basically to suppress any voice that is going to question this govt. So, I will fight legally, I will seek all kinds of legal remedies and hope the truth will come and justice will prevail."
Taking a dig at the Telangana CM, KTR said, "I told the ACB - why don't you get a lie detector kit? Let's go to Revanth Reddy's house and attach the machine to both of us, the whole world will watch who is lying and who is not."
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday dismissed the quash petition filed by KTR in the Formula E race case.
Telangana's ACB is investigating KTR's alleged involvement in a money laundering case over alleged financial irregularities linked to the Formula E race held in Hyderabad in February 2023.
On Monday, the ACB summoned KTR to its office in Hyderabad for questioning in connection with the case.
On December 19, Telangana ACB registered a case against the KTR over alleged payments, some of it in foreign currency without approvals, to conduct a Formula E race in Hyderabad during the previous regime.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against KTR and others in the case.ED filed the ECIR after the Telangana ACB registered a First Information Report (FIR) against KTR and others in the Formula-E funding case.
The FIR lists KTR as the primary accused, with senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and retired bureaucrat BLN Reddy named as the second and third accused, respectively.
The case was filed under applicable sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with provisions of the IPC related to criminal breach of trust and conspiracy. (ANI)