The Andhra Pradesh government suspended the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the adulteration of the Tirupati Laddu case on Tuesday until the next Supreme Court hearing on October 3.
“First they (SIT) have to understand the process, study it and take all the information, but in the meantime, an order has come from the Supreme Court and in line with that, we have stopped it (probe),” Andhra top cop Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said in a statement.
The development comes a day after the Supreme Court pulled up the Andhra Pradesh government for going public with its claim that animal fat was allegedly used in making Tirupati laddus without conclusive proof.
An FIR was registered in the case on September 25, and the SIT was constituted on September 26 to probe the matter.
Rao said the decision was taken as a “precautionary measure” to ensure the probe’s integrity. “We have stopped the probe for the time being in view of the ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court. Our team has conducted various inspections, recorded statements of a few people and done a preliminary investigation,” he said.
The SIT inspected the flour mill in Tirumala, where the ghee is stored before being used to prepare laddus, which are distributed as prasadam.
