The Supreme Court has waded into the debate about non specific poison commonly referred to as ‘ghee’ that was believed to have been used in preparation of ‘prasadam’ at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh. The court hearing petitions on the matter accused the religious forces, telling the solicitor general of the state’s government Tushar Mehta that “the court expects gods in the issue.”
This is regarding faith and according to Mehta, one cannot even use contaminated ghee. In reply to this, the court sought proof whether contaminated ghee was used in preparation of the laddoos which are offered in the temple.
The war of words started when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government was serving prasadam mixed with ghee, which contained animal fat. This enthralled anger with Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan vociferously coming down heavily on those who lack regard for Sri Venkateswara Temple and undertaking the purification procession to wash the sin off from the temple.
The Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan observed that the lab findings of the presence of animal fat in the ghee is false as it was prepared out of the samples from the supplied ghee and not from the ghee used in preparing the prasadam. The Apex court has now sought the Centre’s view on whether SIT constituted by the state should continue its investigation.
The next hearing is set to be on October 3rd, the court has ordered the state to stay out of the case until further hearing.
