In a significant development in the Tirupati laddu adulteration case, a remand report filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has revealed that Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Pvt Ltd, a blacklisted firm, allegedly supplied adulterated ghee to the Lord Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati through proxy companies.
The report, accessed by The Indian Express states that despite being disqualified by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) in 2022, Bhole Baba Dairy continued supplying ghee through Vaishnavi Dairy and AR Dairy. TTD, which manages temple affairs, uses 15,000 kg of ghee daily to prepare its iconic laddu prasadam.
Ghee scam
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Four individuals have been named in the report: Pomil Jain and Bipin Jain, former directors of Bhole Baba Dairy; Apurva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy; and Raju Rajasekharan, MD of AR Dairy. The report alleges that Bhole Baba Dairy, originally supplying ghee at Rs 291 per kg in 2019, was blacklisted after a 2022 inspection found its manufacturing practices “not satisfactory.”
Now, Vaishnavi Dairy won a tender in 2020, while AR Dairy allegedly forged documents to secure a contract in March 2024 to supply ghee. The report claims that Bhole Baba Dairy actively assisted these proxies in the tender process, including document fabrication.
Instead of manufacturing ghee as required, AR Dairy procured it from Vaishnavi Dairy, which, in turn, sourced it from the blacklisted Bhole Baba Dairy, raising serious concerns over the quality of ghee used in temple offerings. According to the report, AR Dairy was supposed to supply Agmark standard ghee but allegedly fabricated documents and provided adulterated ghee instead.
Last year, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government claimed that the laddus offered as prasadam at the Lord Venkateswara Temple were adulterated with animal fat. In response, a five-member team was formed to investigate the case. The team includes two officers from the CBI, two from the Andhra Pradesh government, and one representative from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The probe is ongoing to determine the extent of adulteration of ghee in the laddu prasadam.
