AMN / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court today appointed a five-member independent SIT to probe into alleged use of ghee adulterated with animal fat in preparing laddus offered as prasadam at the famous Tirumala Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh in order to assuage the feelings of crores of devotees of Lord Venkateswara.
The independent SIT will include two CBI officers, two Andhra Pradesh police officers, and a senior officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The probe will be supervised by the CBI director. Hearing various petitions in the case today, the Top Court said it has not observed anything on the merits of the allegations and counter-allegations in the matter, and the decision of the Court should not be used as a political battleground. It clarified that it is passing the order to assuage the feelings of the crores of devotees of the Tirumala temple deity.
The Court was hearing various petitions filed by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha MP and former Chairman, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, YV Subba Reddy, and historian Vikram Sampath, along with spiritual discourse speaker Dushyanth Sridhar.