 "How an Uttarakhand dairy supplied fake ghee worth ₹250 cr to Tirupati temple")
An Uttarakhand-based dairy firm allegedly supplied fake ghee worth ₹250 crore to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the famed Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, between 2019 and 2024, according to a report by The Times of India.
A probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-led Special Investigation Team (SIT) revealed that Uttarakhand-based Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, which never procured a drop of milk or butter from anywhere, managed to supply 6.8 million kg of ghee to TTD. Details of the fraud came to light after the arrest of Ajay Kumar Sugandh, who supplied various chemicals such as monodiglycerides and acetic acid ester to Bhole Baba Organic Dairy.
Firm supplied ghee even when blacklisted
According to the report, the dairy, run by Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain in Uttarakhand, set up a fake desi ghee factory. They forged milk purchase and payment records to make it appear as though they were producing real ghee.
Even after their company, Bhole Baba Dairy, was blacklisted in 2022, they continued to sell fake ghee to the Tirupati Devasthanam by using other dairies’ names, such as Vyshnavi Dairy (Tirupati), Mal Ganga (Uttar Pradesh), and AR Dairy Foods (Tamil Nadu).
Ghee adulterated with animal fat
According to the report, four tankers of ghee supplied by AR Dairy were found to be adulterated with animal fat and were rejected by the Tirupati trust in July last year. But instead of being destroyed or sent back, these tankers were diverted by Bhole Baba Dairy’s promoters and sent to Vyshnavi Dairy.
Investigators later found that the tankers never returned to the AR Dairy plant. Instead, they were taken to a stone-crushing unit near Vyshnavi Dairy, where the labels were changed and the fake ghee was reprocessed to look better, the report said.
In August 2024, Vyshnavi Dairy supplied the same rejected ghee back to the Tirupati trust, pretending it was a new batch. The same ghee was later used to prepare the sacred laddu prasadams.
Allegations of adulteration in 2024
In September 2024, a major controversy broke out over the Tirupati Laddu after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu claimed that the previous government had allowed adulterated ingredients to be used. According to media reports, he said the laddus may have contained beef tallow, fish oil, and pig lard.
A lab test by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) found traces of foreign fats, which caused serious concern. Officials later traced the issue to a batch of ghee from a Tamil Nadu dairy, but said that any ghee that failed quality checks had been removed before it was used to make the laddus.