Five held for selling darshan tickets in blackmarket

Tirupati, Apr 18 (UNI) The vigilance cell of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) today arrested five people who sold darshan tickets in 'blackmarket' to some pilgrims at Tirumala.

According to TTD sources, the incident came to light when ten pilgrims produced a receipt for the tickets at the Cellar counter.

On suspicion, the vigilance staff asked them from whom they had purchesed the tickets.

The pilgrims revealed that they had purchased the tickets for Rs 1500 against the actual coast of Rs 1000 from the five accused.

The accused Manohar, Srinivas, Mani and Narayana Reddy of Tirupati and Bhaskar Naidu from Puttur were then apprehended, the sources said.

The five accused told the vigilance staff that they themselves had obtained the tickets free by producing a recommendation letter purportedly from Railway Kodur MLA, the sources added.

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