Racket selling seva tickets busted

Racket selling seva tickets busted
Two TTD employees held for allegedly black-marketing the tickets
• Two devotees who purchased Abhishekam ticket at Rs. 18,000 each caught
• Devotees were asked to transfer funds into a bank account for darshan tickets
Tirumala,may16

In a major crack down the TTD vigilance and security sleuths on Friday held two TTD employees for allegedly black-marketing 'Abhishekam' tickets.
The accused both of whom are working at the TTD Special Officer's office were identified as Damodar a clerk and Nagoji - record assistant.
The fact that the Abhishekam tickets are not available till the year 2026 itself speaks of the heavy demand for theparticular seva. When such is the case the duo reportedly admitted to have been black-marketing the darshan tickets for quite some long time. On a tip off, the TTD vigilance and security officials caught two devotees - Rajendraprasad and Subba Rao both belonging to Krishna district at the Vaikuntam queue complex in the wee hours of Friday for securing two tickets at a whopping price of Rs.18,000 against the normal price of Rs.5,000 from the duo. Investigations also revealed that the duo had adopted a hi-tech methods in black-marketing the darshan tickets.

The duo who established clandestine relations with several middlemen would provide them the darshan tickets of their choice unmindful of the pilgrim crowd and collect exorbitant rates from the devotees. The devotees would be provided with a bank account number into which the deposits have to be made. Only after getting the assurance that the required deposits have been made into the account the duo would then secure the tickets of their choice.
Briefing the media persons the TTD Chief Vigilance and Security officer B.V. Ramana Kumar said that the department has secured all the required evidences including the bank account number into which the deposits have been made by the devotees and said that he would submit a 'detailed report regarding the entire episode to the management recommending strict action.