Amaravati

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to appoint a committee to examine the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Tirumala laddu adulteration controversy and determine further action against senior officials allegedly involved, Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Keshav said the SIT, in its communication to the state government, has named former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials Anil Kumar Singhal and Dharma Reddy, along with O. Balaji, in connection with the case.

According to the minister, the SIT has alleged that the officials diluted tender norms and removed the sole benchmark used for quality testing, which allegedly facilitated the use of adulterated ingredients in the preparation of Tirumala laddu prasadam.

“The cabinet met today with only one agenda item — Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. The SIT has written two letters to the government. One pertains to measures required to improve the functioning of TTD, and the other recommends action against officials and senior committee members involved in the matter,” Keshav said.

He added that while the SIT has indicated lapses on the part of the named officials, the government is awaiting the filing of the chargesheet to determine whether they have been wrongly implicated. The cabinet has approved the formation of a committee to hear the version of the officials concerned before deciding on the next course of action.

The finance minister further said that suspected adulterants such as lard, tallow and fish oil were identified in the laddu, based on a report submitted to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by the National Dairy Development Board’s Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (NDDB-CALF).

Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan expressed anguish over the SIT’s findings, stating that the ghee used in the preparation of Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Swamy laddu prasadam during the previous YSRCP government was not genuine.

The Jana Sena Party president alleged that laddus were prepared using oil made with chemicals and palm oil, deeply hurting the religious sentiments of devotees. He accused the former YSRCP administration of committing an act of sacrilege by arbitrarily altering established procurement rules to facilitate the purchase of adulterated ghee in large quantities.

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Kalyan questioned how pure cow ghee could have been supplied at unusually low prices, alleging that economic inconsistencies pointed to serious irregularities. He said the issue must be taken to the public, asserting that the alleged actions amounted to grave wrongdoing at one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines.