Tirupati Laddu Row: Naidu Govt Sets Up Nine-Member SIT To Probe Adulteration Claims

The Andhra Pradesh government has formally issued orders forming a nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged use of animal fats in the ghee used in making the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) temple Laddu, said officials on Thursday. 

The probe panel would be headed by Sarvashresth Tripathi, Guntur Range Inspector General of Police, and also comprise nine officers, including Visakhapatnam Range DIG Gopinath Jatti, Kadapa SP V Harshavardhan Raju, Tirupati Additional SP Venkat Rao, DSPs G Sitarama Rao and J Sivanarayana Swamy, Inspectors T Satyanarayana (Annamayya), K Umamaheswar (NTR), and M Suryanarayana (Chittoor).

The government order read, “The SIT may call for relevant information and assistance from any Department of the Government in the course of the investigation. All government departments shall cooperate with the SIT in the discharge of its duties and duly submit any information or technical assistance called for. Similarly, the SIT may seek any external expert assistance duly requesting the Director General of Police.” 

The probe panel would carry out a detailed investigation into the alleged use of adulterated ghee in the making of Tirupati Laddus during the regime of the former government led by Jagan Mohan Reddy. The SIT was formed based on the FIR lodged in Tirupati East police station. 

The development comes after a controversy sparked as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, claimed that animal fat was used in the ghee, which was used to make the laddus of Tirupati temple. The row further escalated as the chief priest of the Ayodhya Ram temple claimed that the Tirupati laddus were used in the consecration ceremony of the temple earlier this year.

However, YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has rebuked all the allegations by saying that the Naidu government is trying to use religion to distract people from'real' issues.