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The Telangana governor has cleared an investigation against BRS leader and former state minister KT Rama Rao over alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 55 crore in the organisation of a Formula E race in Hyderabad last year, sources said on Friday.
Mr Rao, who is also known as KTR, held the Industry and Municipal Administration and Urban Development portfolios, among others, under the previous government headed by his father and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Chief K Chandrashekar Rao.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau had sought Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Verma's nod to investigate KTR in the Formula E case. The Bureau has alleged that, as the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) minister, Mr Rao had given oral instructions for the transfer of Rs 55 crore to the race's organisers, bypassing laid-down procedures.
During the Anti-Corruption Bureau's (ACB) investigation, which was triggered by a complaint from MAUD, a senior official from the department, Arvind Kumar - who held the post of principal secretary at the time - had admitted that the instructions had been issued verbally by the then minister.
Mr Rao, who is the MLA from Sircilla, had said last month that Hyderabad had benefited from hosting the Formula E race, which had generated a revenue of Rs 750 crore. He alleged that he was being targeted by the current Congress government led by Revanth Reddy - which dislodged the BRS last year after nearly a decade in power since Telangana's formation in 2014 - and the BJP.
"Even the fear of imprisonment won't stop me. If the government permits the investigation, I am ready to go to jail. I will plan a padyatra (foot march) while I am behind bars," he said.
The former minister had also claimed that cabinet approval was not needed for transferring the money.