On Friday, the Supreme Court will review several requests for a court-supervised investigation into the dispute over the reported use of animal fat in Tirupati laddoos. The bench, led by Justice BR Gavai, agreed to delay the hearing to Friday at the request of Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, the government’s second-highest law officer.
During the last hearing, SG Mehta was directed to seek guidance on whether the Special Investigation Team (SIT) created by the Andhra Pradesh Police should be permitted to investigate the controversy or if an external agency should take over the investigation.
At the moment, the investigation by the SIT into the suspected contamination of Tirupati laddoo has been put on hold by the Andhra Pradesh Police following scrutiny by the highest court.
In the initial hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court noted that there was no evidence suggesting that animal fat was used in making Tirupati laddoos under the previous YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu should have refrained from bringing religion into politics before making public statements about the laddus being prepared with lard during the previous regime.
The Supreme Court stated that it was not suitable for a high constitutional official to publicly make a statement that could impact the feelings of a large number of people while an investigation into the use of adulterated ghee in laddoos was ongoing.
It was noted that if the SIT probe was initiated by the state government, the Chief Minister should not have made any public statements. Additionally, the court pointed out that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu made the statement on September 18, before the FIR was filed on September 25 and the SIT was formed the following day.