E-Racing Final Report By ACB Says This

ACB officials have submitted their final report on the Formula e-Racing case. The report names BRS working president and former MAUD minister KTR as A1, IAS officer Arvind Kumar as A2, BLN Reddy as A3, and FEO representatives as A4 and A5. It states that the entire e-Racing plan came from KTR.

The report says the event ran on a quid pro quo arrangement without any permissions from the Telangana government. BRS received Rs 44 crore in electoral bonds before the event. The report also notes that the e-bonds were transferred to BRS before the tripartite agreement.

The ACB says Arvind Kumar signed two agreements without the Governor’s approval. No permissions came from MAUD, and the CM, CS, and finance minister were not informed. Despite the election code being in force before the 2023 Assembly elections, agreements and payments were approved during the restricted period.

The report states that Rs 20 crore was spent on season 9 even though no tripartite agreement existed. It says HMDA was not part of the agreement, yet Arvind Kumar and BLN Reddy approved bills for FEOs to release Rs 46 crore.

For season 10, HMDA released Rs 54.88 crore. An additional Rs 8 crore penalty was placed on HMDA for violations. The report says the second agreement on 30 October 2023 placed a Rs 600 crore burden on the government for seasons 10, 11, and 12.

The report says that without HMDA, the entire financial load would have fallen on Ace NXT Gen. It also states that KTR made a false claim of receiving Rs 700 crore investments based on the Nilson report. The ACB says no document shows that the Telangana government received Rs 700 crore.

The report adds that Nilson did not cooperate with the inquiry. The ACB says further investigation is required in the case. Governor Jishnudev Varma has given approval to interrogate KTR, and the ACB has now increased the pace of the process.