CBI: TTD received 68 lakh kg of adulterated ghee worth Rs 250Cr between 2019-2024

Tirumala: TTD received adulterated ghee for over five years, amounting to TTD receiving 68 lakh kg of ghee worth Rs 250 crore.

This was shown in the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the ghee adulteration case under the supervision of the CBI at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).

The investigation also showed that the dairy in Uttarakhand that supplied the ghee never procured a drop of milk or butter from anywhere.

Recently, SIT has arrested Delhi-based chemical trader Ajay Kumar Sugandha, named A-16 in the case, who was accused of supplying chemicals used for preparing adulterated ghee linked to the Bhole Baba Dairy network. He disclosed major details of the ghee supply.

What is the ghee adulteration case about?

The controversy started in September 2024 when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the TTD laddus were adulterated with animal fat under the previous regime. An SIT was then formed under direction from the court, and began examining procurement records, supply chains and quality-testing methods for the ghee used by TTD.

What are the findings:

1. Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, Directors of Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk Private Limited, without procuring the milk, prepared the adulterated ghee at their plant at Bhagwanpur, near Roorkee, Uttarakhand, by mixing the adulterants like Palm oil, Palm Kernel Oil and Palmolein.

2. The dairy in Uttarakhand never procured a drop of milk or butter from anywhere but managed to supply 68 lakh kg of ghee worth Rs 250 crore to the TTD.

3. As part of a conspiracy, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain supplied the said adulterated ghee to the TTD through their company, Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk Private Limited and also through Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialties Pvt. Ltd., near Srikalahasti; Malganga Milk and Agro Products Private Limited, near Pune; and AR Dairy Food Private Ltd, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. The adulterated ghee from these places was used for the preparation of sacred prasadams of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy, which hurt the religious sentiments of crores of devotees once the news came to light.

4. The CBI probe stated that four containers of ghee stocks adulterated with animal fat allegedly supplied by AR dairy and subsequently rejected by the TTD in July last year were supplied back to the Tirupati trust.

5. The rejected four ghee tankers never returned to the AR dairy plant but were diverted to a local stone crushing unit close to the Vyshnavi dairy plant.

4. The dairy promoters set up a fake ghee manufacturing unit and forged milk procurement and payment records.

What does the remand report say?

1. Ajay Kumar had allegedly supplied monoglycerides, acetic acid and esters, chemicals used to make palm oil, to Bhole Baba Dairy directors Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain for nearly seven years.

2. The chemicals, imported from South Korea by a major distributor in Delhi, were purchased by Ajay Kumar in the name of his company and supplied to the dairy.

3. The ghee made using these chemicals was reportedly supplied to the TTD under the brand names Vaishtavi and AR Dairy.

4. More than 90 per cent of the ghee used in laddu preparation had been mixed with palm oil.

5. The promoters had set up a shell unit solely to supply spurious ghee worth Rs 250 crore to the TTD during the period.

6. Bhole Baba Dairy procured acetic acid ester worth Rs 7 crore from Ajay Sugandh between 2022 and 2024 alone.

7. YV Subba Reddy worked as Chairman, TTD from 2019 to 2023. While he was working in the post, on May 16, 2022, he handed over an anonymous complaint against Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk to RSSVR Subrahmanyam, GM Procurement, TTD at Tirumala, for enquiry.

How did the adulteration continue?

In 2022, when RVSSR Subramanyam, then GM (P), met Subba Reddy at the Chairman’s camp office in Tirumala, he was instructed to send the supply samples of cow ghee to the CFTRI Lab for testing purposes and appraise the result.

Accordingly, ghee samples were drawn from the ghee tankers of Premier Agri Foods Pvt. Ltd., Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities Private Limited and Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk and from the tins supplied by Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk Private Limited and forwarded to CFTRI, Mysore during June 2022.

The test reports of CFTRI received by TTD during August 2022 revealed that all the ghee samples were adulterated with vegetable oil as per the Beta Sitosterol test, but no action was taken against the said ghee suppliers, even after informing them about the said test results.

Instead, Premier Agri Foods Private Limited and Shree Vyshanavi Dairy Specialties Private Limited were allowed to continue to supply ghee to TTD till 2024. Similarly, Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk was allowed to continue supplying ghee till October 2022.

In 2022, Pomil Jain (A-3), Director of Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk, Kailash Chand Mangla and PP Srinivasan met Subba Reddy at his camp office-cum-residence at Hyderabad. During the meeting, Pomil Jain complained about the demand of Rs 25 per kg ghee by Kaduru Chinnappanna, PA to YV Subba Reddy, and requested the Chairman not to inspect his plant within a year.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Premier Agri Foods was a supplier of ghee to TTD. Further, Kaduru Chinnappanna, PA to Subba Reddy, had received cash amounting to Rs 20 lakh (approx.) on different occasions near Patel Nagar, Metro Station, New Delhi, from Aman Gupta, who is a hawala agent representing Premier Agri Foods. Similarly, Kaduru Chinnappanna received cash amounting to Rs 30 lakh (approx.) on different occasions at Delhi from Vijay Gupta, Manager representing Premier Agri Foods.

Here's a brief timeline of the events of the case:

- September 2024: CM N Chandrababu Naidu revealed that animal fat was allegedly used in preparing Tirupati laddus during the previous YS Jagan Mohan Redd-led government.

- October 2024: The Supreme Court directed the CBI to probe the allegations under the direct supervision of the CBI Director.

- November 2024: Following the Supreme Court’s directive, the CBI constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case.

- February 2025: The CBI SIT arrested four individuals in connection with the adulteration of Tirupati laddus.

- TTD usage data: Officials stated that Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) uses around 15,000 kg of ghee daily for preparing laddus.

- Subsequent arrests: The SIT arrested Appanna, former personal assistant to YSRC MP and former TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy.

- Recent development: The SIT also arrested Ajay Kumar Sugandha, a Delhi-based chemical trader (A-16), for allegedly supplying chemicals used in adulterated ghee linked to the Bhole Baba Dairy network.