The Andhra Pradesh Police have temporarily stopped a probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged adulteration of Tirupati laddu, in view of the observations made by the Supreme Court, it was announced on Tuesday.
Director General of Police Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said that the SIT will temporarily stall its probe as the matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.
“An order has come from the Supreme Court and in line with that, we have stopped the probe by SIT,” the police chief told media persons.
The DGP said the SIT probe was halted till October 3 when the case will come up for further hearing in the Supreme Court. He said they would take further action with regard to the SIT probe as per the orders of the apex court.
The Supreme Court had orally asked SIT to “hold its hands” till October 3, the next day of the hearing.
The police chief said a complaint was received from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) and considering the seriousness of the case, a SIT was constituted to probe it.
“When the case is in the purview of the apex court, it is not proper to further comment on this,” he said when reporters asked more questions on the issue.
During the last three days, the SIT probed the procurement of ghee and sampling processes. The DGP said the SIT was trying to understand how it is possible to adulterate the laddus.
“They have to first study the process and gather information,” he said.
The DGP said the TTD lodged a complaint with the police after an internal inquiry. He stated that the SIT probe was being conducted in a transparent manner.
The Supreme Court had said on Monday that there is currently nothing to show that animal fat was used in the preparation of Tirupati laddus during the previous YSRCP regime in Andhra Pradesh. It said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should have “kept the gods away from politics” before rushing in to make public statements based on unsure facts that lard was used to prepare the laddus in the previous regime.
Headed by the Inspector General of Police, Guntur Range, Sarvashresth Tripathi, the SIT conducted its probe for the last three days. On Monday, it inspected ghee tankers and the lab at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD). The SIT spoke to TTD officials concerned about the method they adopt to check the quality of the materials they procure. They enquired about the quality check procedure followed in respect of ghee.