Hero Image

Touts misuse VVIP letters for Tirumala darshan

TIRUPATI: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams administration has found out that touts were misusing recommendation letters issued by VVIPs for break darshan to make a hefty profit by selling them at exorbitant prices.


TTD vigilance department last Tuesday nabbed a tout for selling VIP break darshan tickets.

Sriram Veerachari (39) was using recommendation letters issued by Mandapeta MLA Jogeswara Rao to sell the tickets.


The TTD administration has appealed to VVIPs to exercise caution while issuing recommendation letters for VIP break darshan.

According to sources, Veerachari told TTD vigilance department that he was running a racket in Tirumala along with a few others, a local journalist Thota Venkateswara Rao, Veera Venkata Krishna and Subbarayuni Umashankar.

Veerachari said had used recommendation letters of VVIPs on many occasions.

The TTD administration found that the tout used letters from ministers, MLAs, MPs, IAS and IPS officers from AP and Telangana.

The list of AP ministers and MLAs whose letters he misused (with number of instances in brackets) is as follows: home minister M Sucharitha

(4), social welfare minister P Viswaroop (4), Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha (2), Denduloor legislator K Abbaiah Chowdary (2), minister Botsa Satyanarayana (1), minister K Kanna Babu (1), Peddapuram MLA N Chinnarajappa (2), Gannavaram legislator K Chittibabu

(1), Budha Venkateswara Rao, MLC (2), JC Divakar Reddy (2), Kodur MLA K Srinivasulu (2), Rajanagaram MLA Pendurthi Venkatesh (2).

The list of officials belonging to the AP cadre whose letters were misused include: PV Sunil Kumar, IPS, additional DG (4), Dr RM Gonela IAS, principal secretary (2), Balaji D Manjula IAS (2), Sashibhusan Kumar IAS (2), Adithyanadh Das IAS (2), Mohammed Maqsoat Ali, private secretary to chairman MLC (2) and Satish Chandra IAS (2).

The list of Telangana ministers and MLAs whose letters he misused (with number of instances in brackets) is as follows: T Rajaiah (36), Amberpet MLA Kaleru Venkatesh (27), Warangal legislator D Vinaya Bhaskar (17), Warangal MP P Dayakar (11), Parakala legislator Challa Dharma Reddy (6) and Wardannapeta legislator Aluri Ramesh (4), Warangal district TDP president V Mallesham (3), K T Rama Rao, Talasani Srinivasa Yadav, Mohammed Ali, Yerraballi Dayakar Rao, Chennur MLA Balka Suman, Mahabubabad MP A Seetharam Naik, Telangana TDP leader MN Srinivasa Rao, N Uttamkumar Reddy, M Kishan Reddy, Karimnagar MLA Gangula Kamalakar and Musheerabad legislator Mutha Gopal (all two each), Khairatabad legislator Danam Nagender, Bellampalli legislator Durgam Chinnaiah, Uppal legislator B Subba Reddy and Dr Palla Rajeswar Reddy, MLC, Telangana (all 1 each).

He used letters of various officials, including K Venkatanarayana, private secretary to Telangana chief minister (2), Vanamala Chandra Sekhar, special grade deputy collector, Nalgonda (2). The tout also used letters of Maharashtra ministers Mahesh Bala Saheb Jadave and Rajesh V Cheersagar.

READ ON APP