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This is an archive article published on January 6, 2025
High drama outside Telangana ACB office as KTR refuses to go in without lawyer, calls CM Revanth Reddy ‘third-rate criminal’
The ACB has summoned KTR to record his statement in connection with the Formula E race case involving the alleged transfer of Rs 45 crore to a foreign company, Formula-E Organisers (FOE).
K T Rama Rao (Left) and CM Revanth Reddy (Right) (File photo)
Monday morning saw a standoff between Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) working president and former minister K T Rama Rao and the Telangana Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) outside the agency’s office at Banjara Hills.
KTR claimed the ACB had refused to allow his lawyer to be present with him while his statement was being recorded. Nearly 45 minutes after reaching the ACB office, KTR and his legal team remained in their vehicle outside. Eventually, he left without recording his statement, after ACB officials accepted a reply to the notice issued to him to appear before it, which was submitted by his lawyer.
In the written statement, he said he would cooperate in the case subject to constitutional and legal rights as provided by the law. The former minister sought to know which details and documents the agency wanted from him. He said he has challenged the ACB FIR against him in the High Court, which reserved its orders on December 31.
“Since the matter is finally heard and reserved for order, you may consider deferring the same till judgement is pronounced in the case and to proceed further in accordance with law subject to the order of the High Court,” KTR stated. An ACB official said they will consider his reply and may issue a fresh notice to appear personally to record his statement.
The ACB had summoned KTR to record his statement in connection with the Formula E race case involving the alleged transfer of Rs 45 crore to a foreign company, Formula-E Organisers (FOE), in February 2023.
“I have a right to have a lawyer with me when recording the statement. I do not trust the ACB and the police. They did mischief with our former BRS ex-MLA P Narender Reddy in the Lagacharla case. They said he had given a confession statement but the next day the ex-MLA told a judge that he never gave one. I do not want the same situation,” he claimed earlier, while waiting outside the ACB office.
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“They are also planning to send an ED team to my house, and I strongly suspect that they will plant some evidence. I am a law-abiding citizen, and I will appear before the ACB, but I have the right to have a lawyer present with me. I do not trust this government and the police are acting under the instructions of a third-rate criminal like (Chief Minister) Revanth Reddy,” KTR claimed.
He said he did not understand why the ACB had asked him to appear even though the Telangana HC had given him interim relief from arrest. “The HC has reserved its orders till a later date, but why has the ACB asked me to appear. I do not understand. I have full faith in the judiciary. I am ready to appear before the ACB, but I want my lawyer to be present with me,” he said.
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