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Tirupati laddu row: How dairy supplied fake ghee worth ₹250 crore to temple trust
The special investigation team (SIT) led by the CBI gathered these details after the arrest of one of the accused, Ajay Kumar Sugandh.
A dairy firm based in Uttarakhand managed to supply 68 lakh kg of fake ghee worth ₹250 crore to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) between 2019 and 2024, the CBI probe into the laddu ghee adulteration has revealed. The TTD runs the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh.
The special investigation team (SIT) led by the CBI gathered these details after the arrest of one of the accused, Ajay Kumar Sugandh, Times of India reported. The SIT stated these findings in a remand report submitted before the Nellore court.
Sugandh had supplied chemicals including monodiglycerides and acetic acid ester to the Bhole Baba Organic dairy, which supplied ghee used in preparation of laddu prasadam to the TTD.
How did the dairy firm supply fake ghee to TTD?
The CBI has said that the promoters of the dairy, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, had set up a fake desi ghee manufacturing unit. Both further forged milk procurement and payment records to fake their credibility, according to TOI.
The Bhole Baba Organic dairy was disqualified and blacklisted from supplying ghee in 2022. However, the dairy kept supplying adulterated ghee to the Tirupati temple trust by bidding for contracts through other dairies. These included the Vyshnavi dairy in Tirupati, UP-based Mal Ganga and Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Foods, TOI reported.
During this time, four containers of ghee stocks adulterated with animal fat were allegedly supplied through the AR Dairy to the TTD and eventually rejected by the trust. However, these came back to the TTD by Bhole Baba Dairy promoters through Vyshnavi dairy, the CBI probe revealed.
Officials from the FSSAI and SIT team inspected the AR Dairy plant based in Dindigul during the investigation. This led to the revelation that the four adulterated ghee tankers had never returned to the AR Dairy but were diverted to a local stone crushing unit near the Vyshnavi dairy plant, according to the TOI report.
Following this, the Vyshnavi dairy in August 2024 changed the labels on these trucks, improved the quality and consistence of the adulterated ghee, and supplied the same ghee back to the TTD.
