TTD’s SVBC employee sends porn site link to devotee

TIRUPATI: A few contractual employees working with the TTD’s Sri Venkateswara Bhakthi Channel (SVBC) landed in a controversy after a Hyderabad-based devotee complained that he had received a link related to a pornographic site instead of religious material from the official email ID of a particular programme of the spiritual channel.

Following the complaint, the top brass of the TTD has ordered a probe into the issue and identified the employee, who had sent the porn site link to the devotee. He was immediately dismissed and a legal action has been initiated against him.

Confirming this development to Deccan Chronicle, TTD additional EO and SVBC managing director A.V. Dharma Reddy said the incident came to their notice two days ago, after the Hyderabad-based devotee Venkata Krishna, who received a link related to obscene videos from the channel’s official email ID, lodged a complaint with the TTD.

“Following the complaint, TTD chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy and EO Jawahar Reddy ordered a high-level probe into the incident. During the probe, it was found that one of the employees of SVBC, identified as Ananda Krishna, had sent the link to obscene videos to the devotee. He was immediately removed from the services permanently and a legal action was initiated against him,” the additional EO said.

Highly-placed sources in SVBC told this newspaper that Anand Krishna was working in the place of his deceased father on compassionate grounds. He had access to the official email ID of a particular programme and he was in a highly inebriated condition when he emailed a porn site link to a devotee's email.

Meanwhile, the incident also forced the TTD to launch a probe into the activities of other SVBC employees during their office hours. Experts from the TTD’s cyber cell wing are found to have been shocked to learn that some more SVBC employees are watching TV serials, movies and a few obscene videos in the office computers during office hours.

“Experts from the cyber cell wing and vigilance and security department were roped in to conduct a complete audit of all computers being used by the SVBC staffers. In the audit, we found that about five staffers have watched such obscene videos and a few others were watching serials and movies in the office computers during the office hours. A stringent action would be taken against those errant employees and they will be removed from services permanently,” Mr Dharma Reddy noted.

This incident, meanwhile, has triggered protests by opposition parties. While former board member and BJP leader Bhanu Prakash Reddy demanded TTD to immediately remove SVBC employees, who were involved in the murky episode, the Congress leader Naveen Kumar Reddy questioned the vigilance and supervision in the SVBC affairs.