CM Naidu Orders Probe in Tirupati Stampede, His Deputy Apologises

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday announced a judicial inquiry into the Tirupati temple stampede in which at least six devotees were killed and close to three dozen others injured, while deputy CM Pawan Kalyan "profusely apologised" to the country and the Hindu community for the incident.

- Press Trust of India

HYDERABAD:

Naidu, who flew down to the temple town in the morning, transferred three senior officials, including Tirupati superintendent of police (SP) L Subbarayudu, and suspended DSP Ramana Kumar.

Talking to reporters at the administrative building of the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the operations of the famous shrine, Naidu attacked the previous YSRCP regime for changing practices in the temple, alleging that a new system of issuing tokens was introduced by the previous government in Tirupati as opposed to the earlier system of giving them in Tirumala hills.

"In the past, so many problems have come up. We are correcting everything, starting with prasadam (consecrated food)...administration and everything. All of a sudden, this incident happened," Naidu said.

Without directly naming the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party, he added: "This incident also happened due to a legacy problem. Never in my lifetime tokens were given in Tirupati for darshan (to see the deity). For the last five years, they (YSRCP) introduced new practices."

Six people died and 35 others were injured in the stampede at Bairagi Patteda in Tirupati on Wednesday as hundreds of devotees jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple. A large number of devotees from across the country have turned up in the temple town for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam commencing from January 10.

The deceased were identified as R Malliga (50) and Nirmala both from Tamil Nadu - Kandipilli Santhi (35), Guddla Rajini (45), Boddeti Naidu Babu (55) and Suri Setty Lavanya Swathi (37) - all from Visakhapatnam.