Director General of Police (DGP) Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said the SIT investigation was halted till 3 October in the wake of a direction from the Supreme Court and also on the advice of lawyers.
Published Oct 01, 2024 | 5:05 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 01, 2024 | 8:14 PM
AP DGP Dwaraka Tirumala Rao. (X)
The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday, 1 October, pressed the pause button on the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged adulteration of Tirumala laddu.
Speaking to reporters, Director General of Police (DGP) Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said: “We have temporarily halted the SIT investigation till 3 October in the wake of a direction from the Supreme Court and also on the advice of our lawyers.”
The DGP said that the future course of action would depend on the Supreme Court’s direction after the Solicitor General presented the Union government’s view on whether an independent inquiry should be ordered.
Tirumala Rao said that if the SIT was allowed to continue the investigation, it would do it very transparently.
The apex court while giving the direction to the solicitor general to get the view of the Union government, had asked the SIT to hold its hands till 3 October.
The SIT led by Guntur Range Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sarvashresth Tripathi hit the ground running by taking over the case diary from Tirupati East Police station on Sunday itself, the day it arrived in the temple town. Now it will have to wait, keeping its fingers crossed for the apex court’s decision.
After arrival in Tirupati, the SIT took over the case diary pertaining to the complaint lodged by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s (TTD) General Manager (Procurement) regarding “adulteration of ghee used for preparation of Srivari Laddu and other Prasadams.”
After the complaint was lodged, a case was registered in Tirupati East Police station. The SIT took the entire dossier in a prelude to commencing its investigation.
The government formed the SIT by issuing a government order (GO) dated 29 September, after the DGP wrote to the government that a thorough investigation was needed into the complaint.
In the GO, the Chief Secretary said that the SIT was being constituted to investigate if the ghee meant for TTD laddus was adulterated as some reports had suggested. As the TTD prasadams offered at the temple hold religious significance, symbolising purity and devotion, it was considered necessary to constitute the SIT, the chief secretary said.
The GO did not clarify if the SIT would inquire if laddus were indeed adulterated or not. The Supreme Court, while making observations on Monday had said there was no evidence that the ghee that had been adulterated was indeed used in making laddus as Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had stated.
The SIT has a total of nine members, including Tripathi. The other members of the team are Gopinath Jatti (DIG, Visakhapatnam Range), V Harshavardhan Raju (SP, YSR Kadapa District), Venkat Rao, (Additional SP Admin, Tirupati District), G Sitarama Rao, (DySP), J Sivanaryana Swamy ( DySP) T Satyanarayana (Inspector Special Branch, Annamayya District), K Umamaheswar (Inspector, NTR Police Commissionerate) and M Suryanarayana (CI, Kalluru in Chittoor District).
The SIT has been invested with the powers to seek relevant information and assistance from the officials of all the departments of the state government, those of the TTD and seek external expert assistance, if necessary.
The SIT spent most of the time understanding how the systems at the TTD work in order to identify the loopholes that may have been exploited by those who tried to push substandard and adulterated ghee.
The team members conferred with the TTD Executive Officer Shyamal Rao and got a lowdown on how the systems work in TTD on Sunday.
The meeting was described as a courtesy call, but the team leader Tripathi is understood to have obtained an outline of the process that is in force in Tirumula for making prasadams.
The team, on Tuesday, saw for themselves how the containers of ghee arrive at the Flour Mill area where samples are collected and sent for testing at the inhouse laboratory.
The officials questioned the staff on the routine they follow as soon as the ghee tankers arrive in the Flour Mill area, how they take samples of ghee and how they are tested. The team then went around the lab and tried to understand how it functions.
Later, the team members visited the Godowns where the raw materials used for making prasadams were stored. The team members spent close to seven hours on Monday at the temple, learning about the intricacies of several aspects of laddu making and stockkeeping.
According to sources, the SIT is also examining how the laddus are made using ghee. They questioned the staff as to how the ghee that passes the in-house laboratory test is used in making of the laddus at the place called Potu.
They also sought details from the staff on how long the ghee that arrives at Potu is stored before it is finally used in making laddus.
When the SIT team was at the flour mill, a ghee tanker arrived which gave them a chance to know how samples are collected, tested and the reports are finalised in real-time. They also elicited information from the staff on how much time it takes for them to prepare test reports.
It remains to be seen what position the Supreme Court would take in regard to ferreting out the truth that lies hidden under the allegations and counter-allegations by the TDP and the YSRCP on the sanctity of Tirumala laddu.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
