Actor Archana Gautam Alleges Mistreatment in Tirumala, TTD Refutes Allegations

Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has condemned the misleading allegations levelled by the actor and Congress leader Archana Gautam against its officials. 

Archana on Monday alleged that the TTD employees demanded Rs 10,500 from her for darshan at the Temple in Tirumala, despite producing a ticket. The Congress leader said she went to have the darshan of Lord Venkateshwara. After she could not do that on Monday, she approached the TTD office for some arrangements. But, the TTD employees allegedly asked for Rs 10,500 for arranging a quick darshan. 

Taken aback, Archana questioned the management for charging her despite producing a ticket. She also alleged that while she was recording her selfie video, some of the staff misbehaved with her and tried to push her out of the office.

Clarifying that there was a misunderstanding between the devotee and a TTD staff, the TTD management wrote a series a tweets on its official Twitter handle saying Archana and seven others brought a recommendation letter from a Union Minister for Darshan on August 30. Based on the referral letter, they were allotted a Rs 300 ticket. The TTD tweet said the devotees did not avail the darshan on the specified date and when they came to the Additional EO Office the next day, they were asked to buy new tickets which made her furious. 

టిటిడి ఉద్యోగుల‌పై న‌టి అర్చ‌నా గౌత‌మ్ దాడి హేయ‌మైన చ‌ర్య.

-అవాస్త‌వ ఆరోప‌ణ‌ల‌తో ఉద్యోగుల‌పైనే త‌ప్పుడు ఫిర్యాదు చేయటాన్ని టిటిడి ఖండిస్తుంది. (1/n)

(ఈ ఘటనకు సంబంధించిన వివరాలు…👇🏻)

— Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (@TTDevasthanams) September 5, 2022

According to the TTD sources, the devotees were again issued Rs 300 tickets but instead of going for darshan, the actress went to the II Town Police and lodged a false complaint against one of the on-duty staff alleging that he manhandled and abused her. 

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Archana insisted on allowing her to avail Break Darshan but the office staff advised her to take Srivani Trust tickets and go for VIP break darshan on September 1 for which she needs to pay Rs10,500 (Rs.10,000 to SRIVANI Trust and Rs 500 for the VIP Break ticket). However, the Congress leader in her social media post accused the Additional EO Office staff of demanding Rs 10,000 for the ticket which is absolutely false, the TTD sources said.