Spiked Ghee Flowed In As TTD Neglected Plant Inspections for Six Years

Tirupati: Inspecting supplier plants is a mandatory part of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’ ghee procurement system. No inspection took place for six straight years between 2018 and 2024, the SIT of CBI has found. This ignored technical norm enabled four dairies to repeatedly secure multi-crore ghee tenders.

In the remand memo filed before the SPE and ACB Court in Nellore, the SIT made it clear that a group of procurement officials and external dairy experts manipulated inspections necessary to check good manufacturing practices (GMP). These inspections are necessary ahead of deciding whether the dairies can qualify for financial bidding.

Despite failing to meet standards, Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities, Malganga Milk and Agro Products and AR Dairy Foods continued to remain eligible to bid for TTD’s tenders for procurement of ghee year after year from 2018 to 2023, the remand memo underlined.

Specifically, the SIT has named in this regard TTD’s former general managers (Procurement) Peruru Jagadeeswara Reddy (A-28), R.S.S.V.R. Subrahmanyam (A-29) and Pralayakaveri Murali Krishna (A-30); SV Goshala director Dr. K. Haranath Reddy (A-31), and external experts Dr. M. Mahender (A-32), Dr. V. Venkatasubramanian (A-33), M. Vijay Bhaskara Reddy (A-34), Dr. B. Surendranath (A-35) and Dr. K. Jayaraj Rao (A-36). They allegedly suppressed GMP lapses, hygiene violations, documentation gaps and FSSAI licensing issues, apart from altering findings that let the impugned dairies continue supplying the ghee.

Significantly, the SIT cited specific inspections to show how the process had been bypassed. Harsh Fresh Dairy, later operating as Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, had been cleared on May 27, 2018 and February 18, 2019 to bid for 73,000-kg Agmark tin-ghee and 82,000-kg cow ghee tenders, respectively, despite not meeting norms. On January 8, 2020 and March 15, 2021, Sri Vyshnavi Dairy and Bhole Baba had been deemed fit for several tanker and tin-ghee tenders.

Inspections at Bhole Baba’s Bhagwanpur and Fatehpur units on December 22 and December 23, 2021 linked to 25-lakh-kg (tanker-ghee) and 63,000-kg (tin-ghee) national tenders received favourable reports despite technical violations. Such manipulated clearances, the SIT said, allowed supply of ghee, including its adulterated consignments, for making the sacred Tirumala laddu prasadam.

The SIT said several of the accused officials and dairy experts received inducements in return for their approvals. According to the memo, dairy expert Vijay Bhaskara Reddy reportedly received ₹2.5 lakh per inspection from Jagmohan Gupta, MD of Premier Agri Foods. Surendranath and Jayaraj Rao allegedly accepted ₹50,000 mobile phones from Pomil Jain (A-3) when the two visited Bhole Baba’s Bhagwanpur unit on December 22, 2021.

Former TTD GM Subrahmanyam has been accused of taking a silver plate worth ₹16,700, a ₹50,000 phone, a 50-gram silver coin and ₹3.5 lakh between 2022 and 2023 and in November 2023. The other two former GMs Jagadeeswara Reddy and Murali Krishna allegedly received a 50-gram silver coin each. These inducements, the SIT charged, are closely linked to favourable inspection outcomes.

The memo also detailed the role of three more employees who allegedly enabled the entry of ghee supplied by the four dairies into TTD stores. Junior assistant P. Eswar Reddy (A-25) allegedly took ₹23,600 from the dairies between June 2022 and November 2024. He is accused of making tanker unloading easy, forwarding invoices and suppressing an August 3, 2022 CFTRI report that confirmed adulteration in samples from three dairies.

Senior assistant M. Venkata Anil Kumar (A-26) allegedly accepted ₹59,600 and helped clear related files. He is accused of enabling Bhole Baba to secure an additional 15 per cent allocation in tin and tanker tenders despite its disqualification on June 6, 2022 for failing to meet GMP norms.

Former Warehouse deputy executive officer P. Venkata Natesh Babu (A-27) allegedly received ₹18,100 in cash and ₹2,000 through digital transfer from a Bhole Baba representative. He is accused of facilitating sample collection, signing stock certificates and allowing unloading of ghee.

The SIT summarised that compromised inspections owing to financial inducements and internal facilitation enabled adulterated ghee to enter TTD stores for years, causing losses to TTD and undermining the sanctity of the sacred laddus.

Highlights:

Violations between 2018 and 2024:

- May 27, 2018: Harsh Fresh Dairy (later Bhole Baba) cleared for 73,000-kg tin-ghee tender.

- February 18, 2019: Bhole Baba and Sri Vyshnavi approved for 82,000-kg tin-ghee tender; later for 2.5 lakh kg tanker tender.

- January 8, 2020: Inspections for 32,000-kg tin tender and 2 lakh kg AP-category tanker supply cleared again.

- Mar 15, 2021: Sri Vyshnavi & Bhole Baba approved for 4.5 lakh-kg tanker tender.

- December 22, 2021: Bhagwanpur plant of Bhole Baba cleared for 25-lakh kg national tender; SIT flags inducements to experts during this visit.

- June 6, 2022: Bhole Baba disqualified for failing GMP; yet later recommended for supply of 9,450 kg at ₹329.32/kg and 1.07 lakh kg at ₹329/kg.

- 2022–23: Favourable reports despite earlier CFTRI warnings after inspections for 5 lakh–10 lakh kg tenders.

- 2024: No new inspections listed, but participation in tender for supply of ghee continued owing to earlier approvals.