The following article has references to suicide. Please avoid reading if you feel distressed by the subject.
On April 29, 2023, the ‘Parakamani Hall’ at Tirumala was abuzz with activity as employees of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which governs the world’s richest temple of Lord Venkateswara, were busy counting the currency notes dropped into the ‘Srivari Hundi’, a huge container where valuable offerings are made by the devout in fulfilment of a vow.
Parakamani is the process of segregating coins, currency notes (both Indian and foreign), and other forms of offerings such as gold ornaments, wristwatches and property documents, from the hundi, counting them and noting down the day’s collection into the TTD’s exchequer. The process is closely monitored by the TTD’s vigilance and security staff, supported by an extensive CCTV network of 108 cameras, covering every nook and cranny of the hall.
Since Pedda Jeeyangar is regarded as the temple’s ‘Dharmakartha’, he deputes a representative to oversee the proceedings. Similarly, one or two common devotees are invited to monitor the counting to ensure transparency and accountability.
Even as the employees stayed engrossed in the counting, a security guard monitoring the CCTV feed noticed an unusual behaviour in Coimbatore Venkata Ravi Kumar, a.k.a. C.V. Ravi Kumar, a clerk representing the Pedda Jeeyangar Mutt. He was seated cross-legged on the floor, with a large writing pad on his lap, seemingly jotting down figures. However, Ravi Kumar appeared nervous, fidgeting with his legs and frequently sliding his hand between his thighs. This raised suspicions that he might be hiding something in his dhoti.
A screengrab from TTD’s CCTV network shows vigilance officials speaking to Parakamani scam accused C.V. Ravi Kumar before frisking him on the day of the incident.
Following TTD’s stringent standard operating procedures, Ravi Kumar was strip-searched in private, and nine $100 bills were found tucked between his buttocks. The recovered notes were valued at ₹72,000 (at the exchange rate of ₹80 a dollar that day).
On being alerted, the then Assistant Vigilance and Security Officer (AV&SO) of the TTD Y. Satish Kumar lodged a complaint with the Tirumala I Town police station the same day, and a case was registered (FIR No. 24/2023) under IPC sections 379 and 381. While there had been instances of employees attempting to steal offerings, this was the first time a representative monitoring the process had been involved in such a crime.
Death and discovery
Around two-and-a-half years later, on November 14, 2025, Satish was found dead on the railway tracks near Komali village near Tadipatri town in Anantapur district. A native of Pathikonda town in Kurnool district, he was serving as an Inspector with the Government Railway Police in Guntakal after having been transferred out of TTD following the Parakamani case.
Y. Srihari, his younger brother, alleges that Satish was killed by his opponents involved in the Parakamani case to silence him. “While Satish Kumar was traveling from Guntakal to Tirupati on train no. 12794 Rayalaseema Express (A-1 coach, berth no. 29) to attend an inquiry related Parakamani case, he was murdered,” Srihari states in his complaint to the Gooty Railway Police.
Following the complaint, the railway police registered a case under BNS Section 103(1). According to the FIR, the body was discovered by a key man between Komali and Juturu railway stations, and it bore multiple injuries. The case was later transferred to the Tadipatri rural police for further investigation.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP-Tadipatri) Rohit Kumar Choudhary says the scene was reconstructed using body dummies having Satish’s height and weight and recorded using drones.
One dummy was dropped from the train in a sitting position, another in a standing position and two others were pushed out to determine if Satish had fallen accidentally or had been pushed. The police also questioned passengers who had travelled on the A-1 coach of the Rayalaseema Express and railway staff who had supplied bedrolls and linens on the coach. Sources said Satish’s belongings were found at another location, berth no. 11.
A tightening knot
The incidents that occurred during the intervening period between the theft and the death are deeply intriguing. After the case was registered, the accused, Ravi Kumar, donated seven immovable properties to the TTD—five in Tirupati and two in Chennai—and the TTD trust board, at its meeting on June 19, 2023, resolved to accept them. The properties were collectively valued at ₹14 crore.
On September 9, 2023, the case filed at Tirumala I Town police station was disposed of at the Lok Adalat. A compromise was reached between the TTD’s AV&SO (Sathish) and the accused (Ravi Kumar),citing religious sensitivity. The case was settled without any conviction.
The change of government in the State led to a fresh internal investigation by TTD’s vigilance in July 2024. This probe found that Satish, whom the then Vigilance and Security Officer M. Giridhar Rao had praised as a “good officer with sound integrity, a hard-working nature and devotion to his work”, was under extreme pressure from the police to settle the case.
After a local journalist filed a petition challenging the ‘compromise settlement’, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, on September 19, 2025, set aside the Lok Adalat order and ordered a fresh probe by the Crime Investigation Department (CID).
Political Slugfest
The death of Satish, who had been both a complainant and a key witness in the case, led to a political slugfest in Andhra Pradesh. While the police registered a murder case, the Opposition party blamed the government for “driving him to suicide.” The NDA government, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to point fingers at the previous YSRCP government for tarnishing the image of the world-famous temple.
TTD trust board member and BJP State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy, who has launched legal proceedings against the previous board, accused officials of deliberately deleting CCTV camera footage during the previous administration in a bid to erase evidence of the crime.
Registration of a criminal case is normally followed by a ‘Panchanama’ (recording of statements and mentioning of seized properties), and a file is sent to higher-ups for necessary action, he says. “In this theft case, however, I wonder whether the former officers had filed anything at all. Dishonesty at such a sacred place of worship cannot be tolerated, and whoever is involved should be brought to justice. This is why I have moved the court.”
The CID has questioned TTD former Chairperson Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, former Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy and other key officials in connection with the case.
Is the compromise legal?
As the investigation progresses, one question begs answer: Is the TTD trust board authorised to effect a compromise settlement? Former Chief Secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam, who had previously served as TTD’s Executive Officer, says that there is no provision in the TTD Act to strike a compromise deal with an accused.
Temple Protection Movement convener and Chilkur Balaji temple’s chief priest C.S. Rangarajan called abetting crime by a temple management ‘a sin,’ adding that the decision to punish or forgive should be left to the God. “The trust board should have followed the course of law instead,” he said.
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