Vijayawada: The AP government dropped further disciplinary action against retired TTD superintendent P. Seshadri, also known as ‘Dollar’ Seshadri, and retired deputy executive officer A. Vasudevan in the case of alleged misappropriation of 300 five-gram gold dollars from the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams.
The government released orders to the effect on Friday. The TTD had suspended three senior officials and terminated the services of Mr Seshadri, then the officer on special duty, over the misappropriation in 2008. The case was probed by the TTD’s then chief vigilance and security officer B.V. Ramana Kumar.
Mr Seshadri he had an extended stint beyond retirement in 2006, and was the sole custodian of the treasury for almost 10 years.
The suspended officials were then special grade deputy executive officer R. Prabhakar Reddy, then deputy executive officer A. Vasudevan and then superintendent E. Ramachandra Reddy. The inquiry report charged them with gross dereliction of duty allegedly resulting in the loss of 300 gold medallions, called in the TTD as dollars, each weighing five grams.
In November 2014, Mr Seshadri was acquitted by the Chitoor district IV additional court while pronouncing the final judgement in the case. The court held the then TTD Shroff Venkata Chalapati guilty and awarded three years in jail and '10,000 fine.
On June 22, 2006, as many as 300 dollars of the temple had gone missing from ‘Bokkasam’. The haul was then valued at Rs 15 lakh. Mr Seshadri was working as the Bokkasam clerk and had handed over 1,500 gold dollars to his colleague Venkata Chalapti at the end of his shift. Both had signed off on the handing over and taking charge of the gold dollars.
Mr Prabhakar Reddy, who was later suspended, had lodged a complaint at Tirumala and the case was handed over to the CBCID following the inordinate delay in investigation. The investigating agency conducted polygraph and brain mapping tests on Venkata Chalapti in which he confessed having misappropriated the gold dollars. The court examined 34 witnesses.
