Nellore ACB Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To External Dairy Expert In Laddu Ghee Case
The court passed the order after hearing arguments from the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which opposed the bail plea. Assistant Public Prosecutor Jaya Sekhar, appearing for the SIT, informed the court that Vijayabhaskar Reddy had allegedly issued favourable inspection reports to certain ghee-supplying companies despite their poor performance.
TIRUPATI: The Nellore ACB Court on Friday denied anticipatory bail to M. Vijayabhaskar Reddy, an external dairy expert accused in the Tirumala laddu adulterated ghee case.
The court passed the order after hearing arguments from the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which opposed the bail plea. Assistant Public Prosecutor Jaya Sekhar, appearing for the SIT, informed the court that Vijayabhaskar Reddy had allegedly issued favourable inspection reports to certain ghee-supplying companies despite their poor performance. These reports, the prosecution said, enabled the supply of adulterated ghee for the preparation of laddu prasadam.
The SIT further submitted that the accused had allegedly received bribes in 2023 from Bhole Baba Company and Premier Company. According to the prosecution, the reports submitted by Vijayabhaskar Reddy resulted in financial losses running into hundreds of crores of rupees to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). Accepting the prosecution’s arguments, the court refused to grant anticipatory bail.
Meanwhile, the SIT has recently added 12 more accused in the case recently. Of them, seven are employees of the TTD and five are external dairy experts. The SIT said the investigation revealed that some of the accused had accepted bribes from dairy representatives and submitted favourable reports.
