India to investigate if beef fat used in sacred offering at Hindu temple

By Ainnie Arif

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Friday directed an investigation team to probe allegations that a sacred offering at one of the most visited Hindu temples was adulterated with animal fat that is considered sacrilege, the Bar and Bench legal website reported.

The allegation that the clarified butter used to prepare the sweet offering, called laddu, at the Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, contained traces of beef tallow, fish oil and lard, were made by the Andhra Pradesh state government, citing lab reports.

The allegation has sparked outrage in the Hindu-majority country in the past weeks and led to demands for an independent investigation.

The Venkateswara temple, which is almost 2,000-years old, has since undergone a four-hour purification ritual, the state government's spokesperson said last month.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who took over in June, welcomed the court's decision.

His government has said the adulteration was in samples collected before it come to power. Naidu's predecessor, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, has rejected the accusation.

The court said the investigating team would include members from the federal and state police and India's food safety authority, Bar and Bench said.

(Reporting by Ainnie Arif, Writing by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by YP Rajesh and Alison Williams)