YSR Congress Party MP and former chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), Y. V. Subba Reddy has moved the Supreme Court for the constitution of an independent committee headed by a retired judge of the Apex Court to look into the allegations of animal fat in the ghee to make Tirupati laddus.
Senior lawyer P. Sudhakar Reddy, who filed the petition on behalf of Subba Reddy, said that there is need to find the truth behind the allegations of adulteration. He stated that there is no hope of truth coming out from the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) announced by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
He said since Naidu had made the allegation that the ghee contained animal fat, the agency working under him is likely to say the same. The petitioner sought a probe by food technology experts under the supervision of a retired judge of the Supreme Court.
He said this is the issue related to the sentiments of millions of devotees of Tirumala temple.
Subba Reddy’s counsel said out of 10 tanks of ghee supplied by AR Foods to TTD, four tanks had 'vanaspati' and this was revealed by TTD Executive Officer. He pointed out that every tank comes to TTD with a certificate and TTD conducts three kinds of tests to check the quality of the product.
Only after the ghee passes these quality tests, it is used for making laddus. If the ghee tank fails the test, it is sent back. He disputed TTD Executive Officer Syamala Rao's claim that the TTD has no lab to find adulteration.
He claimed that the person who headed the lab between 2014 and 2019 had gone on record that the TTD lab has the capacity to conduct adulteration tests.
On May 15 when the first tank came, there was no YSRCP government as election code of conduct was in force. Four tanks of adulterated ghee were sent back. Where is the possibility of using adulterated ghee in making laddus, asked Sudhakar Reddy.
Subba Reddy was chairman of TTD between 2019 and August 2023 and during his tenure tenders were not called. During Bhumana Karunakar Reddy’s tenure too, AR Foods was not given the order, said the lawyer.
He claimed that it was only after TDP came to power that AR Foods was given order and it supplies.
The devotees were deliberately misled with false allegations, he added.
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