SIT flags 68 lakh kg adulterated ghee in Rs 250 crore Tirupati laddoo scam

As much as 68 lakh kilograms of adulterated ghee were procured over.

A three-year period and used in preparing Tirupati laddoos, one of India’s most revered prasadam offerings, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has revealed, calling it “one of the biggest procurement scams in the history of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).”

The five-member CBI-led SIT filed its chargesheet on Friday in the ACB court in Nellore, naming 36 accused. that the SIT had completed its probe and uncovered large-scale adulteration in the ghee supplied to the TTD. However, the investigation found no evidence to support allegations that animal fat was used in the prasadam.

Political parties had earlier alleged that beef tallow and pig fat were mixed into the laddoos, triggering widespread outrage and prompting a court-monitored probe.

According to the chargesheet, Uttarakhand-based Bhole Baba Dairy is the prime accused. Its directors, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, allegedly conspired with TTD procurement officials and external dairy expert Vijay Shekhar Reddy to execute a Rs 250 crore scam, supplying ghee allegedly composed of up to 80 per cent chemical substances.

Several others have been named in the chargesheet, including Delhi-based chemicals supplier Ajay Kumar Sugandh, Chinna Appanna, and former TTD general manager (procurement) RSSVR Subrahmanyam. The original complainant in the case — Pralaya Kaveri Murali Krishna, a retired TTD procurement general manager — has also been listed as an accused.

The SIT has also named seven officials from the TTD procurement department, including Chinna Appanna, personal assistant to former TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy. While Subba Reddy, a YSRCP MP, was questioned during the probe, he has not been named as an accused.

Two additional suppliers — Apoorva Vinayakant Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy, and R Rajasekharan, managing director of AR Dairy — were also found to be part of the alleged conspiracy.

The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI-SIT probe in October 2024. The team included officials from the CBI, Andhra Pradesh Police, and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), assisted by a local police unit led by the Tirupati additional superintendent of police. The investigation spanned 12 states, tracing procurement records, laboratory reports, supply chains, and financial transactions linked to the TTD ghee contracts.