The Andhra Pradesh government has paused the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into alleged adulteration of ghee used to make Tirupati laddus until the next Supreme Court hearing on October 3.
The development comes a day after the Supreme Court pulled up the Andhra Pradesh government for going public with its claim that animal fat was allegedly used in making Tirupati laddus without conclusive proof.
Andhra top cop Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said the decision was taken as a “precautionary measure” to ensure the probe’s integrity. “We have stopped the probe for the time being in view of the ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court. Our team has conducted various inspections, recorded statements of a few people and done a preliminary investigation,” he said.
Earlier this week, the SIT inspected the flour mill in Tirumala where the ghee is stored before being used in the preparation of laddus, which is distributed as prasadam to lakhs of devotees who visit the hill shrine each year.
An FIR was registered in the case on September 25 and the SIT was constituted on September 26 to probe the matter.
However, the government on Monday came under fire from the Supreme Court, which noted there was nothing prima facie to prove that contaminated ghee was used to make laddus at Tirupati temple.
“It is very clear from the report that this is not the ghee which has been used. Unless you are sure, how did you go into public with that?” a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said.
The court said politics should be kept out of the issue of faith, while hinting that the probe might be transferred to an independent agency.
The controversy erupted after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, citing a lab report, claimed the presence of beef tallow, lard (relating to pig fat), and fish oil in the ghee used to make the laddus during the previous YSRCP regime. Former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, however, refuted the allegations.