CBI Unearths TTD Ghee Adulteration Scam

Tirupati: The remand report has laid bare an elaborate scheme of fraud and collusion in the adulteration of ghee supplied for Tirumala’s sacred laddus, revealing how A.R. Dairy, in collusion with Bhole Baba Dairy and Vaishnavi Dairy, falsified records and finances to secure the TTD contract through forgery and misrepresentation.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is preparing to seek custody of the four accused—Vipin Jain, 45, and Pomil Jain,47, directors of Bole Baba Dairy in Uttarakhand; Apoorva Vinayakant Chawda, 47, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy Specialties Limited in Penumaka, Tirupati district; and Raju Rajasekaran, 69, managing director of A.R. Dairy in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul—who were arrested in connection with the scam on Sunday. The CBI-led SIT, constituted under Supreme Court directions, presented them before the II Additional Judicial Magistrate in Tirupati, who remanded them to judicial custody.

The ghee adulteration probe began on September 25, 2024, following a police complaint by TTD. Initially investigated by a state-formed SIT led by IG Sarvesh Tripathi, the case was handed over to a CBI-led five-member SIT on October 4, as per Supreme Court orders. The team commenced its investigation in Tirupati on November 24, with senior officials joining on December 13.

According to the remand report, TTD had floated an e-tender in March 2024 for 10 lakh kg of cow ghee, restricting suppliers to within 1,500 km of Tirumala. The tender was finalised on May 8 and a supply order was issued to A.R. Dairy on May 15 at `319.80 per kg. However, concerns over the viability of this price triggered an inquiry into the company’s procurement and manufacturing practices.

A.R. Dairy supplied four consignments on June 12, June 20, June 25 and July 4, 2024, which initially cleared TTD’s internal tests that lacked checks for adulteration. However, following suspicions, TTD collected samples on July 6 and July 12, sending them for analysis at the NDDB CALF Lab, which confirmed adulteration with vegetable and animal fats.

During the investigation, financial records of A.R. Dairy showed that it had received `70 lakh from Bhole Baba Organic Dairy on October 21, 2023—`32 lakh for the 1,500 km category and `38 lakh for the national category—indicating collusion in the tendering process. Bhole Baba also transferred `51 lakh as Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) on March 11, 2024, and an additional `29 lakh on May 21, 2024, to meet TTD’s tender requirements. In return, A.R. Dairy was promised a commission of `2.75 to `3 per kilogram of ghee supplied.

The report alleges that Apoorva Vinayakant acted as a commission agent, fabricating procurement records and inflating milk procurement figures to qualify for the tender. Meanwhile, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain allegedly manipulated records, engaged middlemen and routed funds to A.R. Dairy to secure the TTD contract. On March 12, 2024, P.P. Srinivasan, under Pomil Jain’s direction, uploaded falsified tender documents from Chennai using A.R. Dairy’s digital signature.

Further scrutiny of past transactions revealed that Bhole Baba Dairy had been supplying ghee to TTD as early as 2019. During this period, the company supplied ghee in tin containers at `291 per kg despite early concerns over quality and procurement. In 2022, its ghee tankers failed TTD’s in-house lab tests and were rejected. However, Bhole Baba remained in the supply chain by using Vaishnavi Dairy as a front to qualify for future tenders.

While the SIT has arrested A2 to A5, the identity of A1 remains undisclosed, fuelling speculation about the mastermind behind the operation. Meanwhile, over ten dairy staff, including managers, lab technicians and drivers remain in SIT detention and are likely to be arrested by Tuesday or Wednesday.