Tirupati Urban police initiative: Google removes 39 bogus websites

Tirupati: At the behest of urban police, Google removed 39 fake websites offering Tirumala darshan tickets online and also arrested 17 touts at Tirumala. The arrests have taken place in a period of one month. At a meeting with police officials at the District Police Office (DPO) here on Tuesday, the SP gave the details of the identified and removed fake websites and called upon the staff to keep an eye on touts at Tirumala.

Later speaking to the media, Urban SP Ch Venkata Appala Naidu said that with the increase in online cheating pertaining to darsan tickets to devotees across the country, the Urban Police write an official letter to Google to trace the fake websites meant for Tirumala darshan tickets. In response to the letter, Google provided a list of 39 unofficial websites to the police.

At the behest of the police department, the Google has removed 39 fake websites and the Tirumala police arrested 17 touts in various cases. He warned the touts that the police would open rowdy-sheets against them if they continue to cheat the gullible devotees.

The SP appealed to the devotees to approach only the authorised TTD websites for darshan, room and other requirements for their Tirumala darshan tour. Tirumala Additional SP Prabhakar Babu, One Town CI Jaganmohan Reddy Two Town CI Chandrasekhar, East CI Sivaprasad Reddy, District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) CI Raghavan and SIs were present at the meeting.