The CBI has arrested four people in connection with the Tirupati laddu adulteration case.
Those arrested were Pomil Jain and Bipin Jain, former directors of Bhole Baba Dairy in Roorkee; Apoorva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy, Poonambakkam; and Raju Rajasekharan, the MD of AR Dairy, Dundigal.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government had claimed last year that Tirupati’s Lord Venkateswara Temple’s prasadam, which is offered to believers in the form of laddu, was adulterated with animal fat, creating a countrywide uproar. A five-member team, including two officers from the CBI, two from the Andhra Pradesh government and one from the Food Safety Standards Authority of India, has been probing the case.
According to sources in the Andhra Pradesh government, “the investigation has revealed serious violations in the ghee supply” to Tirupati during the previous YSRCP government’s tenure, which was between 2014 and 2019.
Sources said, “Representatives of Vaishnavi Dairy secured tenders in the name of AR Dairy for ghee supply and fabricated documents to claim that the ghee was sourced from Bhole Baba Dairy in Roorkee. The CBI authorities have found that Bhole Baba Dairy did not have the capacity to supply huge quantities of ghee.”
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the temple, uses 15,000 litres of ghee for the preparation of laddus. AR Foods from Tamil Nadu secured a tender to supply the ghee at Rs 320 per kg. When eight tankers carrying the ghee arrived at TTD, four were sent to labs for testing adulteration.
“The ghee was sent for testing on July 8, 2024. On July 17, NDDB lab reports confirmed adulteration,” an official said.
Story continues below this ad
The laddu adulteration scandal had become a political flash point in Andhra Pradesh, with the TDP lashing out at the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy government for “playing with the most pious of offerings in Tirupati”.
