Laddu row: SIT begins probe

Tirupati : While the political slugfest on the controversy pertaining to adulteration of laddu mahaprasadam during YSRCP regime continues, the Special Investigation Team which had been constituted by the State Government has started its probe on Saturday.

They held discussions with the staff of TTD procurement department and also the Tirupati East police where a complaint was registered against Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy. The SIT Chief had also held a meeting with TTD Executive Officer J Syamala Rao.

The nine-member team led by Guntur range IG Sarvashreshth Tripathi visited Tirumala and later held a meeting at the police guest house at Tirupati to finalise the action plan to take up the probe. It is learnt that the SIT will be divided into three teams. These teams will focus attention on the tender conditions that were in vogue before the YSRCP government came to power in 2019 and the quality of ingredients that were used in preparing the laddu which includes ghee, cashew nuts, raisins etc.

SIT will probe into why the 17 clauses of tender conditions were changed, what was the reason behind reducing the rule that the suppliers of cow ghee should have a turnover of Rs 300 crore to Rs 150 crore and what made them decide to reduce the milk processing capacity of the supplier and to benefit whom. It will also probe into the role the then executive officer and Chairman Y V Subba Reddy in taking these decisions.

The SIT will look into the background of the AR Dairy, its board of directors, whether it has the capacity to supply the agreed quantity of ghee on their own or did they give any sub contract and how they were supplying cow ghee for as low as Rs 320 a kg. The officers will also speak to the laddu potu (temple kitchen) members as it was they who first exposed the issue of adulteration of the ghee to find out when they detected deterioration of quality, whom they informed and the action taken.

The other issues that would be looked into by the SIT what were the lab tests that were conducted as was claimed by former CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, where they were tested and whether those labs had the necessary equipment to detect adulteration or not and whether the alleged adulterated ghee was used for preparing laddus or to prepare Annaprasadam.

Interestingly, the team consists of some officials like Visakha Range DIG Gopinath Jetti, Kadapa SP S Harshavardhan who are familiar with the TTDs working as they worked there in the past.