Hyderabad: Former Telangana Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao has requested the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to defer his questioning in the Formula-E race case.
Rama Rao, who reached the ACB office on Monday in response to the summons but returned without appearing before investigating officers after he was not allowed to be accompanied by his lawyer, requested that his questioning be deferred till the Telangana High Court pronounced its order on his quash petition.
The BRS leader handed over a letter to the ACB official who had issued him the notice to appear on Monday.
In his letter addressed to Majid Khan, DSP of the ACB’s Central Investigation Unit, Rama Rao mentioned that the Telangana High Court has reserved its order on his quash petition and the same be pronounced any time.
KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, wrote that pending pronouncement of orders in the case. He was issued notice to appear on January 6 to furnish the information and documents about the case.
“However, in your notice, you have not given details of the information and documents sought from me pertaining to the case. You are requested to give details of the documents sought from me pertaining to the case to take further necessary action at my end after giving reasonable time for the same,” wrote KTR, who assured that he would cooperate in the matter subject to constitutional and legal rights.
“Since the matter is finally heard and reserved for orders, you may consider deferring the same till the judgment is pronounced in the case,” he added.
Earlier, KTR had reached the ACB headquarters in Banjara Hills in response to the notice issued to him. When he was stopped from entering the office with his lawyer, he insisted that his lawyer be permitted to present during the questioning. The BRS leader waited in his car for some time and when the officials made it clear that they would not allow his lawyer, he returned after handing over the letter to the ACB official
The ACB last month booked a case against KTR, former Special Chief Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department Arvind Kumar and former Chief Engineer of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) B.L.N. Reddy for alleged Rs 54.88 crore irregularities in Formula-E deal. The FIR was registered on a complaint by Principal Secretary to Government, MA&UD department M. Dana Kishore, who stated that foreign remittances were made without prior approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities, which resulted in an additional tax burden to HMDA to the tune of Rs 8.06 crore. The FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
(IANS)
