ACB gets Centre’s nod to prosecute Arvind Kumar

Hyderabad: Ina major development, the Union government has given approval to the state government’s plea to prosecute senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar in Formula E car race case. In December, the state government wrote a letter to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking permission to question Arvind Kumar who is A-2 in the Formula E race case.

 The ACB officials have already questioned Arvind Kumar several times in this case and recorded his statement. The probing agency will question the former MA&UD Secretary, if required, to record his statement before preparing the charge sheet.

State Governor has already given his nod to prosecute BRS working president KT Rama Rao in the same case. KTR appeared before the ACB officials four times. The ED also questioned him in the same case on money laundering charges. The statements were recorded by the ACB and ED. The investigation into this case will take a key turn post the green signal from the DoPT to interrogate Arvind Kumar.

The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered a First Information Report (FIR) against KTR in December 2024. The then Special Chief Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department Arvind Kumar and then chief engineer of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) BLN Reddy were also named in the FIR.

The complainant had alleged that the HMDA made payments exceeding Rs 54.88 crore to Formula-E Operations Limited (FEO) and associated entities, without following standard financial protocols.

As per the FIR, Rs 45.7 crore was transferred to FEO between September and October 2023, even after the FEO had already terminated its agreement with the Telangana government. The payment reportedly resulted in an additional tax burden of Rs 8.06 crore, which was absorbed by the HMDA.