Kanipakam Temple Staffer Booked for Ticket Reuse Fraud

A contract employee at Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Swamy temple in Kanipakam allegedly reused his Abhishekam ticket and collected excess money from devotees, thus exposing a suspected ticket fraud.

Sources said the employee collected ₹1,000 from two NRI devotees for a ticket priced at ₹700 and allegedly gave them a photocopy of a ticket used by devotees from Srikalahasti who had booked through the ‘Mana Mitra’ app.

The scam was discovered after temple staff detected the same ticket number being used twice and alerted the assistant administrator. During interrogation, the devotees reportedly said that they got the ticket from the contract employee.

Temple sources said the employee had faced similar allegations before. The state government launched ‘Mana Mitra’ to ensure transparency in ticket bookings, but sources alleged that some staff were misusing the system.

K. Penchala Kishore, administrative officer of the temple, said that a detailed investigation will be conducted before taking action against the contract employee.