Tirumala ghee adulteration row: SIT gets down to work

Members of the team confer with TTD Executive Officer Syamala Rao, who apprises them the facts of the case

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Andhra Pradesh Government met in Tirupati on September 29 (Sunday) to deliberate on the ghee adulteration controversy that rocked the country.

The nine-member team, headed by Inspector General of Police (Guntur Range) Sarvashresth Tripathi, and comprising, among others, Visakhapatnam DIG Gopinath Jatti, Kadapa Superintendent of Police V. Harshavardhan Raju, and Additional Superintendent of Police Venkat Rao, which had been tasked with investigating the case pertaining to alleged adulteration of ghee used in making the Tirumala laddu prasadam, met at the police guest house to get the basic details of the case.

Mr. Tripathi told reporters later that the team was acting upon the case registered at the Tirupati East police station against Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Foods Private Limited, based on a complaint lodged by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), after formally taking it over from the jurisdictional police.

Amidst allegations that the tender guidelines had been skewed during the previous TTD regime when the YSRCP government was in power, it was expected that the SIT probe would include deviations, if any, to choose a select group of suppliers.

The team also met TTD Executive Officer J. Syamala Rao at his bungalow in the afternoon. He was learnt to have briefed the probe team about the facts of the case, as submitted in his report to the government.

Published - September 29, 2024 09:13 pm IST