The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday nominated industrialist Sekar Reddy as a special invitee to the Board of Trustees, Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD). He was also made president of the Local Advisory Committee of TTD in Tamil Nadu.
In December 2016, the Andhra Pradesh government had sacked Mr. Reddy from the TTD Board stating that the CBI had seized over ₹100 crore cash and huge amount of gold from his house in Chennai. The order had, however, said, he was not involved in any irregularity concerning TTD matters.
Mr. Reddy recently wrote to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy contending that the contents of the Government Order (GO) removing him from the post of TTD Board were factually incorrect. He argued that the CBI had conducted a search on his premises more than a week after the GO was issued.
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The search referred to in the order was actually conducted by the Income Tax Department and the seizure was only ₹12 lakh. Other seizures made in the case belonged to SRS Mining firm in which he was one of the partners. The cash seized on the company premises was accounted for and advance tax duly paid. “I have been unfairly treated in the hurried removal of my membership of the TTD Board without any verification or enquiry,” he said and sought re-inducting into the TTD Board.
Of the three FIRs registered against him by the CBI, two were quashed by the Madras High Court and the chargesheet was not filed in the third till date.
Others nominated as special invitees to the TTD Board and made Local Advisory Committee presidents were Bhumana Karunakara Reddy, MLA, Tirupati; Rakesh Sinha, Member of Parliament, Delhi; Kupendar Reddy, Bengaluru; Govinda Hari, Hyderabad; Dusmanth Kumar Das, Bhubaneswar; and Amol Kale, Mumbai.
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All of them would hold office for a period coterminous with the tenure of the Board that was fully constituted with 28 members on Wednesday.