A four-hour purification ritual was held at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) shrine to appease Lord Venkateswara Swamy after allegations surfaced of animal fat being mixed into Tirupati laddus.
TTD executive officer J Shyamala Rao reassured devotees that their concerns about the sanctity of the ‘prasadam’ have been addressed and the laddus are now purified following the ritual.
Meanwhile, India’s food safety regulator, FSSAI, issued a show-cause notice to a Tamil Nadu firm, A R Dairy Food Private Ltd, for allegedly supplying substandard ghee to the temple authority. Calls for a thorough investigation into the allegations have grown, with some demanding strict action over claims of animal fat being used in the sacred laddus.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called for a court-monitored investigation, while former TTD chairman and YSRCP MP YV Subba Reddy, who denied the adulteration claims, requested an independent inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the issue, while Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced a special investigation team to probe the matter.
The FSSAI notice comes after receiving information from the Director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, regarding potential violations of food safety regulations by the ghee supplier, which has been providing ghee to the TTD for the past four years.
The controversy gained national attention when Naidu accused the previous YSRCP government of using substandard ingredients and animal fats in the preparation of the laddus. Former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has denied all allegations.