Former minister and BRS working president KTR faced a setback in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court refused to hear the quash petition filed by KTR in the Formula E race case. Following this, KTR withdrew the quash petition. The Supreme Court bench on Wednesday, during the hearing of KTR’s quash petition challenging the High Court’s verdict in the Formula E car race case, made it clear that it would not interfere with the High Court’s orders.
The Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by KTR related to the Formula E car race case. KTR had recently filed a petition in the Telangana High Court seeking to quash the case registered by the ACB. However, the High Court had refused to entertain it. Subsequently, KTR approached the Supreme Court on the 8th of this month, challenging the High Court’s orders.
Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Prasanna Varale’s bench heard KTR’s petition. Meanwhile, the Telangana state government and the ACB had already filed a caveat petition in the Supreme Court. During the proceedings, KTR’s advocate Siddharth Dave presented arguments on his behalf.
The advocate stated before the court that in this Formula E car race case, HMDA and other parties were not mentioned, and only two officials and KTR were named as accused. He argued that this was a politically motivated case and that no one had alleged KTR of taking even a single rupee. In such circumstances, he questioned how Section 13(1)(A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act could apply and argued that the section was not applicable in this case.
At this point, Justice Bela Trivedi intervened and clarified that the Supreme Court would not interfere with the orders given by the High Court. As a result, KTR, who was hoping for some relief in the Supreme Court regarding this case, faced a setback. With the dismissal of KTR’s quash petition in the Supreme Court, there are now speculations that the former minister’s arrest might be inevitable.
KTR’s advocate requested permission to withdraw the petition and approach the High Court again. While granting permission to withdraw the petition, the bench clarified that it would not grant the liberty to approach the High Court again. Consequently, KTR’s advocate informed the court of their decision to withdraw the petition.
The case :
The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered an FIR against KTR in connection with alleged misuse of ₹55 crore in government funds during the high-profile Formula-E car racing event held in Hyderabad in 2023. Along with KTR, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and private company CEO BLN Reddy have also been named in the case. The ACB has alleged that ₹55 crore in government funds were misused under KTR’s direct instructions, with payments to a foreign company made without approvals from the Finance Department, HMDA board, or the state Cabinet, in violation of RBI guidelines. These irregularities led to charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act (Sections 13(1)A & 13(2)) and the Indian Penal Code (Sections 409 for Criminal Breach of Trust and 120B for Criminal Conspiracy), all of which are non-bailable.
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