New Delhi [India], September 26 : The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which observed that the CBI Director had violated the apex court's directions by appointing an officer outside the SIT to probe allegations of adulterated ghee used in the preparation of the famed Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) laddu prasadam.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justices K Vinod Chandran, and NV Anjaria orally observed that there was nothing wrong with the SIT delegating the investigation to another officer, as the entire probe was being monitored by the CBI Director.
"If SIT wants to appoint a particular officer, what is wrong with that?" asked the CJI.
The top court's order came in response to an appeal filed by the CBI Director against the High Court's order.
During the hearing, the counsel for the party, on whose order the High Court passed the order, told the bench that the top court order had specified that the SIT should comprise two officers from the CBI, two officers from the state police, and one senior officer from the FSSAI; hence, no other officer can be included.
"It has appointed only one officer who will be within their control," said the CJI.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central agency, said the observations of the High Court not only undermined the ongoing investigation but also cast unwarranted aspersions on the functioning of the SIT.
Mehta said that the officer was "only a record keeper" and the CBI director allowed him to continue.
The High Court held that one of the SIT members, J Venkat Rao, was not specifically named as an officer representing the state in the SIT constituted in pursuance of the Supreme Court's directions and held that he could not be included in the SIT, and he cannot carry out the investigation.
The High Court order came on a plea by one Kuduru Chinnappanna, who alleged that he received notices from the investigating officer, Rao, to appear and was "compelled, forced and intimidated to record various scripted false statements" before the SIT and the proceedings were recorded by a video camera.
He said that although Rao was not a member of SIT, but had been repeatedly issuing notices to Chinnapanna calling upon him to appear as a witness before the SIT office at Tirupati for the purpose of investigation.
In 2024, the apex court formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the allegations of the use of animal fat to make laddus to serve as prasadam at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, where Lord Venkateswara is worshipped.