Tirupati: How former TTD officials covered up adulterated ghee scandal

Tirupati : Fresh details have emerged in the adulterated ghee case linked to the preparation of Tirumala Srivari Laddu prasadam.

This follows revelations from the remand report of the TTD procurement department's former GM, RSSVR Subramaniam (Accused 29), who was earlier arrested in the case.

According to the report, Subramaniam told SIT investigators that he had informed then TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy about the supply of adulterated ghee on the very day the issue came to light. During his questioning at the SIT office in Tirupati on November 28, the former official detailed the sequence of events that unfolded in 2022.

Subramaniam stated that when he met Subba Reddy on May 20, 2022, at the Tirumala camp office, the chairman directed him to send ghee samples supplied by Premier Agrifoods, Vaishnavi Dairy Specialties, and Bholebaba Organic Dairy to the CFTRI lab in Mysuru for testing. Four samples were dispatched in June, but delays in receiving the reports prompted him to ask dairy expert Dr. Bathula Surendranath to follow up with the lab.

After the expert contacted the lab, the preliminary findings reportedly indicated the presence of vegetable oils in the ghee. Subramaniam admitted to SIT officials that he conveyed this information to Subba Reddy, who allegedly responded, “We’ve already used it… don’t tell me.”

Dr. Surendranath, in his statement to the SIT, said Subramaniam called him several times between August 11 and 14, 2022, urging him not to explicitly mention adulteration in his report.

He said Subramaniam expressed concern that disclosing the issue would hurt devotees' sentiments, as the ghee had already been used in making laddus. Surendranath told investigators that while he avoided clearly stating whether the ghee was adulterated, he did note the presence of beta-sitosterol.

However, Subramaniam denied pressuring the expert and claimed he had only informed the chairman about the adulteration but did not escalate the issue to senior authorities. When asked why he failed to do so, he reportedly remained silent. He also said he did not warn the dairies involved, stating that he had not been instructed to do so. He added that the decision to seek expert opinion on the Mysuru lab report was taken jointly by him and the Deputy EO.

On November 28, SIT officials questioned dairy experts Dr. Mallam Mahender, V. Venkata Subramanian, and K. Jayar Rao, in addition to interrogating and arresting Subramaniam the same day.

Meanwhile, the Nellore ACB Court on Monday remanded Ajay Kumar Sugandh (A16) and former TTD procurement GM Subramaniam (A29) to four days of SIT custody. The probe team will interrogate them from December 9 to 12 as part of the ongoing investigation into the adulterated ghee supply case.

When did this start?

The controversy started in September 2024 when Andhra Pradesh 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 earlier findings:

1. Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, Directors of Bhole Baba Organic 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 conspiracy, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain supplied the said adulterated ghee to the TTD through their company M/s Bhole Baba Oroganic Dairy Milk Private Limited and also through M/s Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialties Pvt. Ltd., near Srikalahasti, M/s Malganga Milk and Agro Products Private Limited, near Pune and M/s AR Dairy Food Private Ltd, Dindigul, Tamilnadu, was used for the preparation of sacred prasadams of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy, which hurt the religious sentiments of crores of devotees.

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 located close to the Vyshnavi dairy plant.

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