Supreme Court orders SIT probe into alleged use of adulterated ghee in Tirupati laddus

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a Special Investigation Team to probe allegations by the Andhra Pradesh government that the previous government had used adulterated ghee containing 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 investigation 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...

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