Tirupati Temple Adulterated Ghee Controversy: Supreme Court Constitutes SIT To Probe, Monitored by the CBI.

On October 04, 2024 (Friday), the Supreme Court (SC) bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan was hearing the Tirupati Temple Adulterated Ghee Controversy case. The SC constituted an independent SIT (Special Investigation Team) to investigate the allegations by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu regarding the use of adulterated ghee to prepare ‘laddu prasadam’ at the Tirumala Tirupati Temple. The SIT will comprise two officers from the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), two officers from the Andhra Pradesh police, and a senior officer of the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). The SIT will be monitored by the CBI director. The SC bench said that an independent body will inspire confidence; therefore, the SIT formed by the Andhra Pradesh Government was substituted by the SIT constituted by the top court. 

During the proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Union Government told the bench, “If there is any element of truth in this allegation, it is unacceptable… The devotees are spread across the world. The Food Safety Act is also involved… I did not find anything against the members of the SIT. They are competent and qualified to do their job. Let them be supervised by some senior officer of the Central government police force who is senior to members of the SIT. So there will be an all-India perspective also and Food Safety Act also. That would I think inspire confidence and investigation can go on.” After hearing the matter, the SC bench constituted the Special Investigation Team to look into the matter. It also said, “We will not allow the court to be used as a political battleground…We don’t want this to turn into political drama.”