Blackmarket racket busted

Vip break darshan tickets

• Two constables, Three touts held

Tirumala: After lying low for a brief while, the blackmarketing of the most sought after VIP break darshan tickets rose its ugly head yet again at Tirumala causing serious embarrassment not only to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) temple administration but also for the local cops as two of their own men were found to be the kingpins behind the ugly blackmarketing racket.

The tall claims of TTD of streamlining the issuance of darshan tickets as well as curbing the menace fell flat with the blackmarketing racket of the VVIP break darshan tickets exposed by the Tirumala police on Sunday.

Although the TTD administration introduced several reforms to curb the blackmarketing of the VIP break darshan tickets ever since the Telugu Desam Party came to power and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reiterating that menace would be dealt with an iron hand, the recent exposure of the racket comes as an embarrassment to the ruling party as the touts arrested by the cops were able to get the most sought after VVIP break darshan tickets on the recommendation letters of the ruling party MLAs and ministers.

It is a well-known fact that millions of devotees across the globe attach a great amount of significance to the VIP darshan tickets split into three categories as L-1 (Protocol and VVIP), L-2 (Second rung VIPs) and L-3 (general category), besides the arjitha seva tickets for the darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala which are limited in number.

All the VIP break darshan tickets, besides the limited arjitha seva tickets, are issued by the Joint Executive Officer at Tirumala based on the recommendation letters of the VIPs. Although there are stringent rules and guidelines in place for the issuance of VIP break darshan tickets category wise, there has been criticism that these guidelines are hardly adhered to, which is exactly where the touts come into the picture.

According to Tirumala Additional SP MVS Swamy, one B Surya Chandra Rao who is now a head constable at Pakala police station had worked at Tirumala I town PS as a constable between 2011-2014 during that period he established some contacts both inside and outside the system.

Surya Chandra Rao who connived with another constable Bhaskar and three other touts -- Niranjan Reddy, who operates an internet centre, one Goverdhan and M Avinash a B Tech student (all three hailing from Tirupati), began blackmarketing the VVIP break darshan tickets (L-1, L-2 categories especially) at exorbitant rates.

The five-member gang used to apply for the VIP break darshan tickets on recommendation letters of Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister and TD leader Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao and Tirupati Telugu Desam MLA M Sugunamma which they could get sanctioned with ease.

Once the tickets were 'okayed', the gang used to sell these Rs 500 tickets at a whopping sum of Rs 10000 for the L-1 category, while the L-2 category tickets priced the same were sold at a lesser price, said Tirumala ASP MVS Swamy. The Tirumala cops who acted on a complaint lodged by a devotee K Narayana Reddy arrested the gang involved in the blackmarketing racket and sent them to remand.