His lawyer accompanied him to the bureau office, as permitted by the Telangana High Court on Wednesday. The court allowed the lawyer to be present in a separate room where he could observe the proceedings. Before his appearance, Rao stated that whatever he did was to improve the brand image of Hyderabad.
Speaking to the media, he said, “As the son of Telangana’s former chief minister, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao, I will die for Telangana if needed but won’t bow in front of such people. I have the answers to all questions. Whatever I did was to enhance the brand image of Hyderabad.”
“Some Congress people, through media management, want to do mudslinging on us and gain political advantage. The truth will always win. You cannot divert us. We will continue to speak and continue to fight… If you, Revanth Reddy, think you can divert our party cadre and leadership by putting cases on me or doing something to me, you can’t do it. We will continue to question your 420 promises. No matter how many cases you put in,” he added.
Earlier, Rao took to social media to explain his vision for hosting the Formula E race in Hyderabad. On X, he said, “Worked tirelessly to bring a prestigious event to India to enhance the brand image of Hyderabad & Telangana globally. The agenda was to make Hyderabad a pivotal hub for sustainable mobility as the world transitions towards it. Formula E race was a part of the effort to realise this ambitious vision.”
Rao also underlined his intention to create employment and revenue opportunities through the development of electric vehicles.
Apart from KTR, senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar and former HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy have also been named in the case.
In February 2023, Hyderabad hosted the Formula E race, when Rao was Telangana’s Minister for Municipal Administration on Urban Development.
In December 2024, the ACB registered a case against KTR and two others over unauthorised payments, mostly in foreign currency, to conduct the electric car racing event in Hyderabad during the previous government.
The case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and it is alleged that the payments resulted in a loss of approximately ₹ 55 crore to the government.
The race was scheduled to take place in February 2024; however, it was cancelled following a change of government in December 2023.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
