Ghee purportedly supplied by AR Dairy in Tamil Nadu was actually manufactured by Bhole Baba Dairy in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. It was rebranded and accompanied by fake stickers and counterfeit GST invoices on arrival at Tirupati before being delivered to TTD. Officials of TTD had rejected 4 tankers from AR Dairy after it failed to meet quality standards.
Published Feb 12, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 12, 2025 | 6:55 PM
KMF's Nandini Ghee and the famous Tirumala laddu. (Creative Commons)
Synopsis: An SIT remand report into the Tirupati laddu adulteration case, following the arrest of four accused, details a major scam in which substandard ghee from Uttarakhand was fraudulently re-labeled and supplied through a Tamil Nadu dairy. The scheme, which began in 2019, was uncovered when laboratory tests in July 2024 confirmed the presence of both vegetable and animal fats in the ghee samples.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged Tirupati laddu adulteration case has detailed an elaborate scam involving forged documents and deliberate tampering of business records to evade scrutiny, in a remand report filed before a Tirupati court on 9 February.
The SIT, constituted under Supreme Court directives in October 2024 and comprising officials from the CBI and Andhra Pradesh police, arrested four individuals on the same day after establishing prima facie evidence.
The 14-page report reveals that AR Dairy, the prime accused, supplied substandard and adulterated ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) through an elaborate network, “with the intent of making wrongful gains, deceiving the TTD Trust Board, and hurting the religious sentiments of crores of devotees”. It may be recalled that TTD officials had rejected four tankers of ghee from AR Dairy in July last year after it failed quality tests.
The accused, presented before the First Class II Additional Judicial Magistrate, are Raju Rajasekharan (A2), Managing Director of AR Dairy Pvt Ltd, Dindigul; Pomil Jain (A3) and Vipin Jain (A4), Directors of both Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities Pvt Ltd and Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Pvt Ltd; and Apurva Vinaykanth Chavda (A5), CEO of Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities.
Two of the accused reportedly attempted to mislead investigators by resigning from their directorships and appointing their vehicle drivers as replacements. “On September 1, 2024, both the directors of Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities Ltd, Punabaka – Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain – resigned from their posts and appointed Surendra Singh and Saurabh Kashyap in their place, who were drivers of their vehicles,” the report stated.
The SIT also stated that the accused had destroyed their old mobile phones and purchased new ones in an attempt to erase communication records.
Meanwhile, ghee purportedly supplied by AR Dairy in Tamil Nadu was actually manufactured by Bhole Baba Dairy in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The product arrived at Vyshnavi Dairy in Punabaka, Tirupati, via Hanuman Transport and SKD Logistics, where it was rebranded with AR Dairy stickers and accompanied by counterfeit GST invoices, laboratory reports and warranty certificates.
The row first came to light in July 2024 when laboratory tests confirmed impurities in four ghee tankers supplied by AR Dairy, which had won the tender at ₹320 per kg. While TTD officials maintained that the impure ghee was neither accepted nor used in laddu preparation, the case led to the Supreme Court’s intervention and formation of the SIT after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu claimed “animal fat” was used in preparation of Tirupati laddu.
Laboratory analysis by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on 16 and 23 July 2024 confirmed the presence of vegetable fats and other adulterants in the ghee pointing to possibility of tallow and lard but not conclusive evidence of the same.
The scheme’s origins trace back to 2019 when Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, directors of Bhole Baba Dairy, approached Vyshnavi Dairy with a proposal to participate in TTD’s ghee tenders under Vyshnavi’s name.
The arrangement promised that Bhole Baba Dairy would supply all ghee and bear all expenses, while Vyshnavi Dairy would receive a 2-3 percent commission.
Vyshnavi Dairy accepted the proposal, participated in tenders, and started to supply ghee to TTD from 2020 onwards. However, in 2022, some of its tankers failed TTD’s in-house lab tests and were rejected.
Following which, in January 2024, the Jains purchased shares in Vyshnavi Dairy and secured directorship positions. Apurva Chavda continued as CEO, while Sabbil Kalimulla Khan (A8) remained Plant Executive Officer, both managing operations on behalf of the Jains.
TTD, which requires 15,000 kg of cow ghee daily for its laddu prasadam, operates a three-tier procurement system through tenders: 20 lakh kg from national dairies, 10 lakh kg from dairies within a 1,500 km radius, and 5 lakh kg from Andhra Pradesh dairies. The temple authority specifically mandates Agmark Special Grade cow ghee, supplied in 15-kg tins.
In October 2023, when TTD floated e-tenders, Bhole Baba Dairy transferred ₹32 lakh and ₹38 lakh to AR Dairy to participate in the 1,500 km radius category and the National Category bids, totally ₹70 lakh respectively.
The investigating team has petitioned for custody to conduct further interrogations and uncover additional details about the operation.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
