India probing if beef fat used in sacred offering at Hindu temple

 

FMT:

India probing if beef fat

used in sacred offering at

Hindu temple

Reuters

-04 Oct 2024, 09:20 PM

The allegation sparked outrage in the country and led to demands for an independent investigation.

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The Venkateswara temple has since undergone a four-hour purification ritual following the incident. (AFP pic)

NEW DELHI: 

India’s Supreme Court today directed an investigation team to probe allegations that a sacred offering at one of the most visited Hindu temples was adulterated with animal fat that is considered sacrilege, the Bar and Bench legal website reported.

The allegation that the clarified butter used to prepare the sweet offering, called laddu, at the Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, contained traces of beef tallow, fish oil and lard, was made by the Andhra Pradesh state government, citing lab reports.

The allegation has sparked outrage in the Hindu-majority country in the past weeks and led to demands for an independent investigation.

The Venkateswara temple, which is almost 2,000 years old, has since undergone a four-hour purification ritual, the state government’s spokesman said last month.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who took over in June, welcomed the court’s decision.

His government has said the adulteration was in samples collected before it come to power.

Naidu’s predecessor, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has rejected the accusation.

The court said the investigating team would include members from the federal and state police and India’s food safety authority, Bar and Bench said.