Today, On 11th February, The Tirupati laddoo controversy came back after a report said that banned dairies supplied ghee. Last year, there were claims that the ghee had animal fat, causing huge anger. The matter went to the Supreme Court, leading to religious and political debates. This has raised fresh worries about food quality and trust in temple prasad.
New Delhi: The four men arrested in the Tirupati laddoo controversy accused of supplying ghee that contained animal fats “hatched a conspiracy” to sell products from companies blacklisted for delivering adulterated goods, according to a remand report accessed by NDTV.
In this 14-page report, the Tirupati Police indicated that the four men schemed to establish proxy companies, providing false documents, including those related to food safety standards and the actual production process, to unlawfully secure tenders.
The arrested individuals are Pomil Jai and Vipin Jain, Directors of Bhole Baba Dairy and Vyshnavi Dairy; Apurva Chavda, CEO of Vyshnavi Dairy; and R. Rajasekaran, Managing Director of AR Dairy. They were apprehended by a special CBI team investigating the case.
Allegations that the ghee used for the famous Tirupati laddoo contained animal fat made headlines last year, reaching the Supreme Court and igniting a religious and political controversy.
The Supreme Court remarked that “religion and politics cannot be allowed to mix,” while ordering a thorough investigation by the federal agency, with assistance from the Andhra Pradesh Police and a senior official from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The remand report submitted this week outlines several instances where the accused dairies manipulated documents and pricing to win tenders. For example, AR Dairy claimed it could supply at least six tonnes of cow milk fat daily from dairies within 1,500 km of Tirupati, as required by the tender.
However, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) found this claim to be false, revealing that AR Dairy had “submitted false and fabricated documents… in collusion and conspiracy with others” to alter production figures for butter, ghee, and milk to meet future targets.
The SIT noted that the actual procurement of cow milk fat for AR Dairy, according to the FSSAI report for 2022/23, was 945.6 metric tonnes of butter and 56.80 metric tonnes of ghee. In contrast, the FSSAI report submitted with the tender had been altered to show a figure of only 196.80 metric tonnes of ghee.
Additionally, the report claimed that the quoted prices for ghee in tenders were manipulated, as were the figures for minimum daily milk procurement. For 2022/23, R. Rajasekaran allegedly submitted false details claiming a procurement rate of 2.52 lakh litres per day, despite their actual average being only 1.45 lakh litres per day, while the tender required a minimum of two lakh litres daily.
Other concerns raised in the remand report included that the ghee AR Dairy claimed to supply was actually sourced from Vyshnavi Dairy through Bhole Baba Dairy.
“AR Dairy removed the seals, affixed their own, and prepared documents as if the ghee was manufactured there.”
The report also stated that Apurva Chavda (CEO of Vyshnavi Dairy) approached Rajasekaran, assuring him that he would handle the ghee supply and offering a commission of Rs 2.75 to Rs 3 per kg to AR Dairy for participating in the tender process. It was noted that Vyshnavi Dairy took part in the ghee tender despite being ineligible, as Chavda had previously submitted fabricated documents.
Regarding Bhole Baba Dairy, the report indicated that in 2022, ghee purchased under the ‘national dairy’ category failed tests conducted by the in-house lab.
A team from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam the government trust managing the temple later visited the dairy and found a lack of “good manufacturing practices.” Consequently, both Bhole Baba Dairy and Vyshnavi Dairy were disqualified from supplying ghee for the laddoos.
The scandal emerged last year after the Andhra Pradesh government received a report from a Gujarat lab indicating that samples of ghee bought from a supplier in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu later identified as AR Dairy contained traces of fish oil, beef tallow, and lard, all of which are animal fats. The lab’s report also included a disclaimer about “false positives.”