Senior YSRCP leader and ex-TTD chairman B Karunakar Reddy on Friday dismissed the judicial commission report on the Tirupati temple stampede, calling for a CBI inquiry because the "report is biased and predetermined." The Andhra Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday adopted the report filed by Justice (retired) M Satyanarayana Murthy on the stampede at Padmavathi Park at Bairagipatteda, Tirupati on January 8, 2025.
Six devotees, reportedly, died and nearly 40 were injured in the stampede in Bairagipatteda near MGM School as hundreds of them jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala Hills.
"The report appears to be pre-conceived as it has exonerated all the key persons involved in the tragedy, including the TTD, revenue (department) and police officers, but has selectively targeted two individuals and made them scapegoats," Reddy told a press conference in the temple town.
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The report says that two individuals — Harinath Reddy and Ramana Kumar — have been held accountable for the stampede. Different vigilance and other commission reports will be presented in the coming days. Under these circumstances, Reddy, citing that the key individuals were supposedly let off, and low-level officials were blamed, insisted on a CBI investigation.
The YSRCP leader accused the report of trying to make some lower-level officials scapegoats.
The erstwhile TTD chairman called for a CBI inquiry so that the facts come out and the guilty are punished, claiming that the TTD officials were at the beck and call of VVIPs when the stampede took place.
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