VIJAYAWADA: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by the State government to probe the alleged irregularities in the purchase of ghee for the preparation of Laddu Prasadam at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), continued its investigation on the second day on Sunday.
The nine-member team, including SIT chief Sarvashresth Tripathi, Vizag Range DIG Gopinath Jatti, Kadapa SP V Harshavardhan Raju and others, arrived in Tirupati on Saturday, and launched their investigation by collecting details from the Tirupati East Police pertaining to the case registered against AR Dairy Pvt Ltd of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, which supplied the ghee to the TTD.
As part of the investigation, Tripathi convened a second round meeting at Tirupati Police Guest House. All the SIT members and officials of Tirupati East police station attended the meeting. The meeting discussed the course of action to intensify the probe.
Later, the SIT members collected details pertaining to the ghee procurement, tenders, parties participated in the tendering process, and specifications mentioned in the tenders in a document format from TTD General Manager (Procurement) Murali Krishna.
Addressing the media, Tripathi revealed that the team members have further divided into three individual groups to investigate the adulteration of ghee. An investigation officer was appointed to oversee the probe pertaining to the FIR No. 470/2024, and two other sub-teams were given other tasks of visiting AR Dairy, and collecting details pertaining to the procurement of ghee and other administrative process involved.
“Each aspect in the issue will be investigated thoroughly. All individuals responsible for the adulteration of ghee will be punished. We are also examining the roles of officials and staff associated with the organisation,” said the SIT chief, mentioning that there is no specified time frame for the submission of the investigation report.