Fake news on Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams again

TIRUPATI: Acting on a complaint lodged by officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirumala II Town Police on Saturday booked one Arun Katepalli of Hyderabad for spreading on social media a photograph of a building atop the Tirumala hills and falsely suggesting that it was a church.  

Arun adminsters a WhatsApp group tagged ‘Anuvanuvuna Hindutvam (Hindutva everywhere)’.

The fake news campaign was tagged ‘Edukondalapai Esumandiralu, (Churches on the Seven Hills), a police official said.
According to a press release by the TTD, a photograph on which a cross was visible on top of a building, has gone viral on social media. The description below the photograph falsely claimed: “A church was built secretly by some officials in the government, on the top of a hill in Tirumala, the same place where the Lord Venkateswara temple is situated.”

It claimed that the church was constructed after the YSRC came to power in the state, and prayers were being offered there.

TTD Vigilance Wing officials began a fact-check. It was found that the photograph was of an government building in the in the Karakambadi hill region of the Sesha-chalam forest, and not a church.

The alleged cross was a pole with solar pipes, panels and CCTV cameras.

Vigilance officials traced the post to one Arun Katepalli from Hyderabad and lodged a complaint at the local police station.

The police is looking for Arun Katepalli, an officer said.