Devotees who had come to purchase the laddu prasadam at the famed Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple in the Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana were in for a shock when they discovered that they were given stale laddus and found strains of fungus on them. Angry pilgirms protested against the counter staff for selling laddus as they were unfit for consumption.

They complained that the Temple authorities were not paying attention to the quality of the laddus. It is reported that on the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadasi day, Bhadrachalam temple authorities had made over two lakh laddus to be sold on that day, as they expected a huge footfall on the auspicious day which was on January 2. The negligent temple staff had not stored the laddus properly leading to fungus forming on the prasadam. They went ahead and sold the laddus to devotees in the coming week and the pilgrims who received the spoilt laddus raised objections and fought with the staff. Some of the devotees wrote a slogan on a paper stating that “fungus-laced laddus were being given here” and stuck it on the counter.

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The sale of moldy laddus went viral on social media and on Monday, the Bhadrachalam police came to the temple and tried to seize the sales office in the 17th-century temple. They were met with stiff resistance from the temple staff who did not allow them to enter the laddu sales counters or the office. This led to a major scuffle between the temple employees and the police. The priests and temple staff staged a dharna at the laddu sales counters in protest against the police action.

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