The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-supervised Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) ghee adulteration case has uncovered that the temple trust received adulterated ghee for over five years from a fake dairy unit in Uttarakhand.
According to the SIT’s remand report submitted to the ACB Court in Nellore, the supplier, Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, located at Bhagawanpur in Uttarakhand, supplied an estimated 68 lakh kilograms of ghee worth ₹250 crore to the TTD between 2019 and 2024, despite not procuring a single drop of milk or butter during the entire period.
The findings came to light following the arrest of Ajay Kumar Sugandh, listed as A-16 in the case, who allegedly supplied chemicals such as monodiglycerides and acetic acid ester used in the production of adulterated ghee.
Investigators found that Bhole Baba Dairy was operated by Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, who established a shell manufacturing unit and forged milk procurement and payment records. Local cattle rearers confirmed that they had never supplied milk to the company. The promoters reportedly bought a defunct dairy facility nearby and sourced palm oil and kernel oil under the name Harsh Fresh Dairy from a Delhi-based importer of Malaysian palm oil. These oils were then blended with chemicals to produce spurious ghee intended exclusively for TTD contracts.
The SIT stated that the dairy used acetic acid esters in the final product to manipulate the Reichert-Meissl (RM) value, a key measure used in TTD’s quality control tests for ghee. Between 2022 and 2024, Bhole Baba Dairy purchased acetic acid ester worth ₹7 crore from Ajay Kumar, the chemical supplier based in Delhi.
Despite being blacklisted by the TTD in 2022, Bhole Baba Dairy continued supplying adulterated ghee by routing bids through other dairies, including Vyshnavi Dairy (Tirupati), Mal Ganga Dairy (Uttar Pradesh), and AR Dairy Foods (Tamil Nadu).
The SIT also found that four tankers of ghee adulterated with animal fat, originally supplied by AR Dairy and rejected by the TTD in July 2024, were reintroduced into the TTD supply chain by Bhole Baba Dairy through Vyshnavi Dairy. During inspections by FSSAI officials and SIT teams at AR Dairy’s Dindigul plant, it was discovered that the rejected tankers never returned to the plant. Instead, they were diverted to a local stone crushing unit located near Vyshnavi Dairy.
In August 2024, Vyshnavi Dairy, which remained an approved supplier within the Andhra Pradesh circle category, allegedly changed the labels on the tankers, modified the consistency of the synthetic ghee, and resupplied it to the TTD. Investigators said that this ghee was later used in preparing the Tirupati Laddu prasadams.
The controversy surfaced in September 2024, after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu alleged that TTD laddus were being made using ghee adulterated with animal fat during the previous administration. Following his remarks, a court-directed SIT investigation began examining procurement records, supply chains, and quality testing protocols.
The probe revealed that Ajay Kumar Sugandh had supplied monoglycerides, acetic acid, and esters for nearly seven years to Bhole Baba Dairy directors Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain. The chemicals were imported from South Korea by a Delhi-based distributor and later purchased and resold by Sugandh under his company’s name.
Investigators also found that over 90 per cent of the ghee used in laddu preparation was blended with palm oil. The SIT collected evidence of financial transactions and chemical supplies linking Sugandh directly to Bhole Baba Dairy’s promoters.
Ajay Kumar was detained in Delhi, brought to Tirupati for interrogation, and produced before the Nellore ACB Court, which remanded him to judicial custody until 21 November 2025. The investigation into the alleged ₹250-crore ghee adulteration racket and its network of shell dairies remains ongoing under the supervision of the CBI.
(Source: Times of India)
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