In a sensational decision, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams on Saturday resolved to file a defamation suit against a vernacular paper for Rs 100 crore for publishing false news which affected the sentiments of millions of devotees.
Sources said the daily in question was Andhra Jyothy, which allegedly published a story stating that the TTD annual diary had the advertisements belonging to other religions.
The trust board meeting, chaired by Y V Subba Reddy, felt that the “false report” carried by the daily recently damaged the image of Lord and reputation of TTD.
“A discussion was held on the report published in the daily alleging other religious propaganda in a TTD publication,” he told reporters.
The TTD decided to file a libel suit seeking Rs 100 crore from the daily for causing damage to TTD and marring the image of the Lord.
He made it clear that TTD will have zero tolerance on such false reports as they aim against Lord which should not be spared at all.
It may be noted that based on social media posts alleging the name of other religious God found in TTD Panchangam, the daily carried a prominent article but the allegations were later found untrue.