The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a Special Investigation Team to probe allegations by the Andhra Pradesh government that the previous administration had used ghee adulterated with animal fat to prepare laddus at the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan directed that the investigating team will have two officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation, two from the Andhra Pradesh Police and one senior official from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
The probe will be carried out under the supervision of the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the court said.
An independent probe was required to “assuage feelings of crores of people”, said the bench, adding that the decision should not be construed as questioning the credibility of the members of the Special Investigation Team that the state had constituted.
The bench also said that it was not making an observation about the merits of the allegations and counter-allegations in the matter, Live Law reported.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking an investigation into the allegations that the ghee used to prepare laddus at the temple in Tirupati contained animal fat.
While hearing the pleas on Monday, the Supreme Court rebuked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for publicly alleging that adulterated ghee had been used.
Naidu had claimed on September 18 that substandard ingredients and animal fat were used to make the prasadam while the YSR Congress Party was in power in the state. The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party lost power in the Assembly elections that concluded in early June.
The court questioned the propriety of Naidu’s claims, which were made despite the matter being under investigation by the temple authorities.
The bench verbally observed that according to the lab reports it had seen, the ghee samples tested for contamination came from rejected batches that were not used to make laddus.
“There are some disclaimers in the lab report,” Viswanathan had said. “It is not clear and it is prima facie indicating that it was rejected ghee, which was subjected to test. If you [Andhra Pradesh government] yourself have ordered the investigation, what was the need to go to press.”
“The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh had gone in public making a statement that the animal fat was being used to make Tirupati laddus under the previous regime,” the court had observed. “This report prima facie indicates that this is not the material which was used in the preparation of the laddus.”
The court had said that it was expected of high constitutional authorities such as chief ministers to make statements that can “affect the sentiments of crores of people”.
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