Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao appeared before an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court on Friday, July 31, 2026, in connection with the Formula E race case. He was accompanied by other accused in the case. The court adjourned the matter to August 25.
This was Mr. Rao’s first appearance in court after a chargesheet was filed in March this year. He submitted a personal bond of ₹1 lakh. According to Laxman Jakkua, an advocate representing Mr. Rao, the trial has not yet begun in the case.
The Telangana ACB filed a chargesheet in March, naming Mr. Rao as the prime accused, along with senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar, former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority Chief Engineer B.L.N. Reddy, and two others. The probe is related to alleged irregularities in payments of around ₹55 crore, mostly in foreign currency, during the previous BRS government for the Formula E race planned for 2024.
The inaugural race was held in Hyderabad in February 2023, but the second edition scheduled for 2024 was cancelled after the Congress Government assumed office in December 2023. The ACB had registered a case in December 2024 against Mr. Rao, Mr. Kumar, and Mr. Reddy under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), invoking charges, including criminal misappropriation, breach of trust, and conspiracy.
Mr. Rao has denied the allegations, stating that the decision to transfer funds to the race organisers was taken to promote Hyderabad’s image and there was no corruption involved. He claimed that the money sent by the government lies with the organisers, and there is no corruption in the matter.
