TTD former chief priest falls prey to Covid-19

Tirupati: Former chief priest of the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Srinivasa Murthy Deekshitulu died of coronavirus at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) here on Monday.

The 75-year-old, who was admitted to the hospital on Saturday after testing positive, died in the early hours on Monday.

According to SVIMS Director Dr B Vengamma, he was also diabetic and had kidney related ailments.

Srinivasa Murthy belonged to Archakam Peddinti family, one of the four families of hereditary priests associated with Tirumala temple for centuries. He had served as the chief priest for two decades. He was forced to retire along with three other priests from these families in 2018 by the then TTD board under the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government.

Sources said in view of COVID-19 protocols for disposal of bodies of the victims the last rites of Murthy will not be performed as per the family customs of hereditary priests. Normally, the TTD is not likely to follow the customs which include sending fire, sandalwood and other sacred items on an elephant to the residence of the deceased priest. The three materials of sandal sticks, parivattam and fire are handed over to the family member of the deceased Archaka at the backside of Sri Bedi Anjaneya for funeral rites, according to an official TTD press release.

The former head priest's two sons, both priests, also reported to have given their samples for COVID test. One of them Narasimha Deekshitulu works at Tirumala temple. Already, 15 out of 50 priests at Tirumala temple have tested positive. They are among 140 TTD employees found infected by the virus since the famous temple was re-opened for darshan on June 8.The rise in the number of cases in Tirumala has caused high concern and there has been demand from leaders of various political parties to close the temple for devotees for sometime.

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