Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday, October 27, ordered the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged theft of money from the offerings made at the Tirumala temple in 2023.
The HC also said the theft should be investigated by a CID officer of the Director General rank, while calling for ascertaining the role of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials in the whole affair. It also directed the manner in which the case was settled by the Lok Adalat to be investigated and a report be submitted before December 2.
The theft allegedly took place in 2023, while the YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) was in power, during the counting process (Parakamani) which led to the case being heard by a Lok Adalat. The Andhra Pradesh Sadhu Parishad (a body of Hindu saints promoting Hinduism), however accused the Lok Adalat Presiding Officer of “recording a fraudulent compromise”.
What is the Parakamani scam?
In April 2023, two members of the TTD Trust Board – then TTD board member and BJP State spokesperson G Bhanuprakash Reddy and TTD Ex Officio member and TUDA Chairman C. Divakar Reddy released CCTV footage from the surveillance cameras fixed at the Tirumala Parakamani (coins and currency notes counting centre).
As per the CCTV, Parakamani volunteer and a staff member of the Pedda Jeeyangar Mutt, CV Ravi Kumar was caught during frisking and found to have concealed foreign currency in his under garments, first estimated at $11,300 (Rs 9 lakh).
Investigators later alleged that Kumar had repeatedly stolen over the years. He was accused of amassing properties worth up to ₹100 crore in Tirupati and Chennai.
The case registered at the Tirumala police station was shifted to the Lok Adalat court, and a “compromise settlement formula” was reached five months later when in September 2023 Ravi Kumar volunteered to “donate” seven properties worth Rs 40 crore, all of them located in Tirupati and Chennai, to the TTD.
“Who authorised the TTD to approach the Lok Adalat for such a flawed settlement in a scam? The TTD is merely a custodian to Lord Venkateswara’s properties and cannot act in an arbitrary manner,” Divakar Reddy had said.