Rs 2L stolen from laddu counter at Tirumala

Tirumala: Much to the shock and surprise of TTD authorities, an amount of Rs 2 lakh was stolen from the laddu counters at the Laddu complex near the high security Tirumala temple, in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The staff at counter No. 36 after noticing the theft of cash, informed officials alerting the vigilance officials. The TTD vigilance officials immediately traced the culprit in the wee hours of Tuesday when they skimmed through the CCTV footage and identified the person who sneaked into the laddu counters leaving with the cash. Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect was Seethapathi, a previous offender, involved in such a theft at Tirumala. The TTD vigilance department lodged a complaint with Tirumala police who registered a case. Based on the CCTV footage, police launched a loo out for the suspect who was still at large when reports last came in. Meanwhile, in a press release, the TTD said that the laddu counter staff Rajakishore is working under TTD's Lakshmi Srinivasa Manpower Corporation (for non-permanent employees) and he was posted at Tirumala to work in the laddu counter for distribution of laddus to devotees, one month back.

He slept in the counter along with the cash collected through the sale of laddus, leading to the theft. After waking up, he found that the cash was missing and informed the vigilance personnel at the laddu complex alerting the authorities. The incident which came after the viral drone visuals of Tirumala, created flutter and revealed the laxity in the security vigilance set up in the high security Tirumala.