Laddu scam in Tirumala, 20 held

TIRUMALA: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) vigilance sleuths nabbed 20 persons involved in black marketing of the famous Srivari laddu, here on Wednesday and seized fifty Rs 100 laddu tokens and another 25 subsidiary tokens of Rs 20 each from them.Interestingly, the arrested included a woman and six persons employed by various banks to monitor the laddu issue counters allocated to them.It came to light that apart from purchasing laddus with the help of tokens they collected, they sold the laddus at a higher price to gullible pilgrims.The six persons manning the counter were also engaged in the sale of extra laddus made by them with the nicked part of the laddus that are given to devotees at the counter.Those manning the counter would nick a small part of the laddu with their thumb in such a manner that the devotees did not get any doubt.With the laddu powder collected from 10 to 12 laddus they make an extra laddu, which are sold through middlemen at higher prices.On a tip off, the vigilance sleuths nabbed the 20 people involved.The police registered a case and took up investigation.