Arjita tickets booked till 2100

The vigilance and enforcement department that probed the `50 crore Arjita Seva ticket scam in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has found that over a dozen industrialists from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka had blocked seva tickets till 2100.

The scam involved booking tickets for the much-sought after sevas for the deity in advance and then selling them in ‘black’ to devotees.

The V&E team headed by the director general, Mr V. Dinesh Reddy, named 55 persons as being involved in scam and has recommended action against them under various IPC sections relating to cheating, criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust.

Further, sleuths also held the TTD executive officer, Mr I.Y. Ramakrishna Rao and his predecessor, Dr K.V. Ramanachary, guilty of negligence and dereliction of duties.

The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, is likely to take action on the report in a couple of days after consulting senior officials and it is expected that at least 10 officials, including bank employees, will face dismissal. Sources said the vigilance report had accused three TTD board members, Mr Kale Yadaiah, Mr Alluri Subramanyam, Mr M Anjaiah, of being involved in the scam.

Others named in the report as guilty are five deputy executive officers, Mr Chandramohan Naidu, Mr Siddaiah, Mr Vasudevan (Peshkar), Mr Kodanda Ramaiah (Peshkar), and Mr Prabhakar Reddy.

Further, the report charged two bank employees, Mr Kasturi Rangan and Mr Srinivas Reddy, of hacking computers to get seva tickets, and named two TV journalists, personal assistants of TTD Board members and security guards as being guilty in the scam.

The sleuths also listed three hotels, Sindhura Park, Bliss, Fortune Kences, brokers, and travel agents in Chennai, Bangaluru, Comibatore, Madurai and Tirupati as having a role in the scam.

The guilty had booked tickets for 59 sevas including the coveted Vastralankara Seva (Rs 12,500), Suprabatham (Rs 120), Tomala Seva (Rs 220), Archana (Rs 220), Kalyanotsavam (Rs 1,000) among others and sold them for higher rates.