Three, including a TTD staffer arrested by Renigunta police with MDMA

Tirupati: In a major crackdown against synthetic drug trafficking, the Renigunta Urban Police intercepted a major peddling ring near the Renigunta Railway Station on Thursday, July 9, 2026.Acting on specific intelligence, a special task force led by Urban Police Station inspector S Jayachandra, along with SIs Dharma Reddy and Srinivasulu, conducted targeted raids at the railway station’s car parking lot, leading to the apprehension of three accused including a Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams staffer.The arrested individuals have been identified as Tella Gunasekhar (26) from Settipalli village, S Ashwin Kumar (30) and TTD employee Padamala Rahul Yadav (30), both residents of Maruthi Nagar locality in Tirupati.According to TTD sources, Rahul Yadav was appointed to the Tirupati Trust on compassionate grounds following the death of his father, Narasimha Yadav. Rahul Yadav discontinued his education in the UK and returned to India to join TTD. He had been working as temple inspector at the TTD’s Govindaraja Swamy group of temples at the time of his arrest.Meanwhile, at the time of intercepting the three accused, police recovered 62 grams of MDMA (commonly known as methamphetamine or meth) valued at approximately ₹3 lakh, four mobile phones, two digital weighing scales used for portioning the narcotics, and two Royal Enfield motorcycles used by the accused for transport and delivery.

According to senior police officials, initial interrogations revealed that the trio sourced the high-end drugs at cheaper rates from an unidentified supplier based in Bengaluru.The contraband was subsequently smuggled into the Tirupati–Renigunta twin areas, where the suspects divided the bulk quantity into small, individual sachets to retail them to local buyers at highly inflated prices.The Renigunta Urban Police have registered a criminal case under Crime Number 126/2026, invoking strict provisions under Sections 8(c) read with 22(c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.Following their formal arrest, the three accused were produced before the local court and have been remanded to judicial custody.Investigators are currently tracking the digital footprint of the seized phones and pursuing active leads to dismantle the Bengaluru-based supply network and identify other local conspirators involved in the racket.