Security breach in Tirumala: ‘Ananda Nilyam’ videos shot, posted in social media by devotee

TIRUPATI: Another major security breach was reported at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), atop the Tirumala Hills, the abode of Lord Venkateswara. A devotee reportedly entered the temple premises with his mobile phone, which was not recovered at the frisking of the entrance.

The devotee could successfully camouflage his mobile phone from the security officials and take it inside. He successfully managed to cross three levels of security check without being caught. He shot the ‘Ananda Nilayam’ and posted the visuals in social media.

Vigilance officer in TTD Bali Reddy is verifying the visuals and is inspecting the process to establish where the breach has occurred. Further details of the incident are awaited.

Earlier some fake videos, claiming to have been shot with a drone, above the temple were circulated on January this year. The video of the Tirumala Temple, which appeared to have been shot by a drone camera went viral on social media, causing a stir in the temple city and leaving the officials of TTD in shock. The video was reportedly shared by an unknown person on the Instagram account named @Icon.

Also read: TTD says viral drone videos of temple fake

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) CVSO Narasimha Kishore said that the videos of TTD which were shot by a drone and were going viral on social media were fake. He said that the video was sent for forensic testing where it was found that it was not an original video.

Also read: Case against one more fake TTD website, devotees cautioned

Frequent security breaches are being reported from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. A fake TTD website was created by some miscreants in April this year. The TTD, after doing a fact-check, put out a statement clarifying that the video was fake. The IT wing of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has identified one more fake website and, upon its complaint, a case has been registered at Tirumala One Town Police Station.

Also read: TTD contract employee held for theft at Parakamani building in Tirumala

The TTD vigilance officials arrested a person for resorting to theft of foreign currency notes at the new Parakamani building in Tirumala while counting of the money is going on. As part of the counting of currency donated by the devotees, a contract employee was found moving out from the Parakamani building with foreign currency notes. The incident was detected by the CCTV cameras which led the vigilance officials to nab the accused with currency notes and hand him over to the police. The security officials of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam said that strict security arrangements were being made in the new building with CCTV surveillance and the usage of technology.