Archana Gautam denied entry at Tirupati Temple, actress files FIR against officials

Actress and politician Archana Gautam's visit to Tirumala temple stirred a controversy after she alleged that a TTD employee misbehaved with her. However, TTD denied all the allegations and claimed that the actress attacked its employee. In the video shared by Archana someone also tried to stop her from recording and she was heard shouting and crying. According to her allegations, she had made the booking for darshan but on arrival, the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) staff refused to give her the ticket and demanded Rs 10,500. Archana also appealed to the Andhra Pradesh government to stop robbing devotees in the name of VIP darshan alleging that the religious place has become a den of loot. The body which manages the affairs of the hill shrine alleged that the actress lodged a false complaint with the police.

According to the TTD, Srikant Tiwari, Archana Gautam and seven others from Uttar Pradesh came to Tirumala for darshan on August 31 with a letter of recommendation from a Union Minister and made a request for darshan at the office of Additional Executive Officer. On the basis of this request, Rs 300 darshan tickets were approved and a message was sent to the mobile number of Tiwari. However, they did not avail the opportunity. Tiwari went to Additional EO's office but by then the time given for darshan was already over, the temple body said.The TTD claimed that Archana who barged into Additional EO's office with Tiwari was very angry and used abusive language against TTD employees.When one of the employees tried to pacify her, she manhandled him. The staff still allotted Rs 300 tickets for the second time but Archana refused to collect the same.From there, she went to II Town Police Station and lodged a complaint that a TTD employee manhandled her and behaved in an indecent manner.The Circle Inspector of Police called the TTD staff for the inquiry. The TTD employee showed the video recorded by him to the police officer and this revealed that it was the actress who misbehaved. The actress then left the place.The TTD also clarified that its staff merely suggested to her that for September 1 she may have VIP break darshan by buying the ticket for Rs 10,500. "While this is the fact, the actress made an allegation in the video that the staff demanded Rs 10,000 for darshan," the TTD said. Archana has acted in Hindi films like Great Grand Masti, Haseena Parkar, and Barat Company. She also acted in Telugu movie IPL: Its Pure Love and few serials and video songs.