PIL in Supreme Court Seeking SIT Probe Into Alleged Use of Adulterated Ghee in ‘Laddu Prasadam’ at Tirupati Balaji Temple

Recently, a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC) of India seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged use of adulterated ghee in ‘laddu prasadam’ at the Tirupati temple. The petition has been filed by President of Hindu Sena Surjit Singh Yadav alleging that animal fat was used to prepare the laddus served as prasadam at the Tirupati Balaji temple which resulted in hurting the sentiments of the Hindu devotees of the temple and violated fundamental Hindu religious customs. The controversy began after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s statement who cited certain lab reports suggesting the use of ‘beef tallow’, fish oil, and ‘lard’ in the given ghee samples used for making prasad under the previous YSR Congress government (YS Jagan Mohan Reddy). The petitioner sought an investigation by a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired High Court Chief Justice.