ED Raids TTD Ghee Spike Suspects Throughout India

Nellore:Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad zonal office, on Wednesday organised search operations at 15 locations across Ahilyanagar, Bikaner, Dehradun, Delhi, Dindigul, Guntur, Mumbai, and Roorkee in connection with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Ghee Adulteration Fraud case.

The searches covered the residential and office premises of Pomil Jain, Vipin Jain, Raju Rajasekaran, Rajesh Mansukhlal Chavda, Apurva Vinaykanth Chavda, Machindra Shantaram Lanke, Ajay Kumar Sugandh, Mahesh Kumar Rohira, and Ashish Agarwal.

The ED seized ₹60 lakh during the course of its searches. The searches led to evidence of the proceeds of crime (PoC) gained in the TTD ghee case being invested in properties valued at more than ₹45 crore, apart from details of several immovable properties held in the names of the accused persons and their family members.

ED’s search operations covered the dairy plants of A.R. Dairy Food Pvt. Ltd., Dindigul; Malganga Milk & Agro Products Pvt. Ltd., Ahilyanagar; and Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Milk Pvt. Ltd., Roorkee.

Various incriminating documents have been seized in the raids, sources said. These indicate use of a complex network of legal entities to facilitate bogus sale and purchase transactions for concealment and layering of proceeds of crime.

The Enforcement Directorate has initiated investigation under the PMLA, 2002, on the basis of an FIR registered against M/s A.R. Dairy Food Pvt. Ltd. and others. It is alleged that the accused persons, in conspiracy with certain TTD officials, committed criminal breach of trust, cheating, and caused wrongful loss to TTD by supplying adulterated ghee.

Investigations conducted so far have revealed that the proceeds of crime generated through the supply of adulterated ghee to TTD had subsequently been invested in immovable properties through a complex web of interconnected legal entities and business concerns to conceal the illicit origin of funds. Further investigations are going on.