The Special Investigation Team (SIT), under the supervision of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has sought a 10-day custody of four individuals arrested in connection with the alleged supply of adulterated ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for preparing the famous “laddu prasadam.”
The accused—Bipin Jain and Pomil Jain, directors of Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Private Ltd (Roorkee, Uttarakhand), Apoorva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Sri Vaishnavi Dairy Pvt Ltd (Poonambakkam), and Raju Rajasekharan, MD of AR Dairy (Dundigal, Tamil Nadu)—were presented before the second additional munsif court judge in Tirupati late Sunday. They were remanded in custody until February 20.
The SIT, led by CBI Hyderabad zone joint director Veeresh Prabhu, has been investigating employees of both Sri Vaishnavi Dairy and AR Dairy, as well as TTD staff, over the past few days. The accused were summoned for questioning on Sunday and subsequently arrested, with the SIT arguing they were uncooperative and required extended custody.
Investigations revealed that AR Dairy secured the TTD contract at ₹319.80 per kg but lacked production capacity. Instead, it procured ghee from Sri Vaishnavi Dairy, which in turn sourced it from Bhole Baba Organic Dairy in Uttarakhand. The ghee was transported in tankers, repackaged under different invoices, and supplied to TTD using falsified documents and fake seals.
Discrepancies in pricing also raised concerns. Bhole Baba Dairy sold ghee to Sri Vaishnavi Dairy at ₹355 per kg, while Vaishnavi Dairy supplied it to AR Dairy at ₹319.80 per kg—well below market rates exceeding ₹500 per kg—raising suspicions of adulteration.
The SIT is now scrutinizing the dairies’ production capacities, supply chains, and why TTD accepted ghee at such low rates despite market trends.
Senior BJP leader and TTD board member Bhanu Prakash Reddy welcomed the investigation, urging authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible for the scam. Meanwhile, YSR Congress leader and former minister Ambati Rambabu accused the Chandrababu Naidu government of misleading the public and making arrests to deflect allegations about the quality of Tirupati laddu prasadam.
The Maha laddu controversy continues to stir political debate, as investigators work to determine the full extent of the alleged ghee adulteration scam.
