Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR), the current President of Telangana’s lead opposition party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was placed under house arrest on the 14th of January, along with seven other senior party leaders, including Harish Rao and RS Praveen Kumar. This development came following the arrest of BRS MLA Padi Koushik on the 13th of January over alleged assault in Karimnagar.
Heavy police deployment too was reported outside KTR’s residence in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli. The premise of the house arrest goes along with the allegations of corruption against KTR in the Formula E race case. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) summoned KTR on January 9 for questioning regarding alleged financial irregularities linked to the race held in Hyderabad in February 2023. KTR vehemently denied the charges, calling them “frivolous” and an “abuse of the process of law.” He claimed the ACB repeatedly questioned him for over seven hours without presenting substantial evidence.
Speaking to ANI, he said, “They (ACB) have no case. It’s a frivolous case. I told them it was an abuse of the process of law. I also told them that when there is no case, you can’t make a case. They kept asking the same question over and over again for almost 80 times. But to their peril, they have zero case in this.”
“I asked them (ACB) where is the corruption in this. I have done whatever I have done as a minister, in full consciousness, to ensure Hyderabad and Telangana are put on the world stage. If you are going to accuse me and make a case out of this, it is probably just the sadistic pleasure of the CM and nothing more,” he further added.
KTR alleged the accusations were politically motivated, driven by the Telangana Chief Minister’s intention to target him and suppress political opposition. “This is not about me; it’s about silencing any voice questioning this government,” KTR said, vowing to fight the charges legally.
The Telangana High Court dismissed KTR’s petition to quash the case, while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also initiated an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
