CBI Remand Report Exposes Nexus Behind Supply of Adulterated Ghee To Tirupati Temple

New Delhi: In a chilling revelation into the Tirupati Temple adulterated laddu case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested four people after it found several loopholes in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) e-tendering process for procuring ghee for Prasadam (Laddus).

The Republic Media Network has accessed remand report in the TTD laddu ghee adulteration case which shows that on June 11, 2024, an agreement was made between TTD and AR Dairy with regard to supply of ghee. According to the agreement, the AR Dairy had to manufacture and supply ghee to the TTD.

However, the report reveals that AR Dairy flouted the rules as it procured ghee from Vaishnavi Dairy and supplied to TTD. Not just this, the Vaishnavi Dairy procured ghee from another diary called Bhole Baba Dairy. The remand report suggests that the AR Dairy violated the conditions of TTD ghee tender agreement for wrongful gains and gave fake documents to show that the ghee was manufactured in the AR Dairy.

How TTD find out about adulterated ghee?

During the investigation it was found that on March 12, 2024, TTD floated an e-tender for supply of 10 lakh kgs of cow ghee within 1,500 kms of radius from Tirumala. On May 8, 2024, a tender was finalised and supply order was issued on May 15, 2024 in favour of the AR Dairy at Rs 319.80 per kg cow ghee.

It is alleged that, the price of Rs 319.80 appeared to be unviable and unreasonable for supplying the pure ghee.

AR Dairy had supplied 4 tankers of ghee on June 12, 20, 25 and July 4, 2024 respectively which were accepted with earlier procedure of testing which doesn't include adulteration testing in TTD lab.

Later, samples were taken from two tankers each on July 6 and 12, 2024 and forwarded to NDDB CALF Lab. The TTD received the NDDB CALF test reports on July 16 and 23, 2024 which showed that the ghee was adulteration with vegetable and animal fats.

How Bhole Baba Diary, Vaishnavi Dairy are allegedly involved in adulterated ghee case? 

The remand report states that in the year 2019, Bhole Baba Dairy supplied ghee to TTD for Rs 291 per KG. The directors of Bhole Baba approached the management of Vaishnavi Dairy saying that the entire ghee will be supplied from Bhole Baba dairy and all the expenses will also be born by them. The former also said that they will 2-3 per cent commission to Vaishnavi Dairy and asked to participate in the e-tender process.

Vaishnavi Dairy participated in the process and later supplied ghee to TTD from 2020 onwards and received their commission from Bhole Baba.

Bhole Baba dairy used to supply ghee to TTD in 2022 but some of their tankers were rejected following the lab tests.

Then, a team from TTD visited Bhole Baba dairy plant and submitted report stating that the dairy did not submit records and documents for procurement of milk, further, good manufacturing practices were not satisfactory in the dairy and technically disqualified it to supply ghee to the TTD.

Later, Vaishnavi Dairy CEO Apoorva Chawda, approached AR Dairy to participate in the tender process to supply ghee to TTD.

Apurva Chavda assured ghee supply and Rs 2.75 to Rs 3 commission per kilogram to Raju Rajasekaran, MD, AR Dairy. Chavda  informed about this to Pomil Jain and has asked him to proceed further for tendering process.

In order to participate in both the two tenders, the EMD amount of Rs 32 lakhs for 1,500 KMs radius category and Rs 38 lakhs for National category was transferred to the AR Dairy by Bhole Baba dairy.

AR Dairy did not have capacity to procure such huge quantity of ghee  

The AR Dairy is not having capacity of procurement to tune of 6 tonnes cow fat per day for 1,500 KMs category and 8 tonnes for National category. AR Dairy in collusion with others submitted false and fabricated documents, the remand report says.

It is submitted that TTD in Nov 2023 has enhanced the annual turnover, daily milk procurement, cow milk fat P/A and sales /production of ghee.

Vaishnavi Diary prepared false documents 

Apurva Chavda in March 2024 prepared false documents to submit for the tender process. The actual procurement of cow milk fat handling per annum for AR Dairy as per FSSAI returns 2022 - 23 was 1003 Metric tonnes (80% of 1182 MT butter, which is 945.6 MT + 56.80 MT ghee produced).

However the the FSSAI returns submitted 2022-23 submitted along with tender was altered with figures of 3594 MT instead of 1182 MT for butter production and 190.80 MT instead of 56.80 MT for ghee production to show that their cow milk fat handling per annum is 3072 MT.

Thus, it is clearly established that Rajasekharan, MD AR Dairy signed and submitted false and fabricated documents in connivance of Apurva Chavda.

The remand report also revealed that the ghee supplied to TTD in the above 8 tankers was not manufactured at AR Dairy.

They said the ghee was initially supplied by Bhole Baba Dairy to Vaishnavi Dairy and then Vaishnavi Dairy supplied that ghee to AR Dairy and from there it was supplied to TTD. 

Fake documents were prepared to show that ghee was manufactured in AR Dairy.

Bhole Baba dairy was the source and supplier of ghee to Vaishnavi Dairy and to the AR Dairy. However, during the investigation it was found that Bhole Baba Dairy also didn’t manufacture such a huge quantity of ghee to supply to TTD through Vaishnavi Dairy and AR Dairy.

The remand report also states that Pomil Jain, Vipin Jain and Apurva Chavda have destroyed their old phones and said that they lost their mobile phone. The accused persons are not cooperating with the investigating agency by disclosing the true facts.

The accused - Rajasekaran, Pomil Jain, Vipin Jain and Apurva Chavda were arrested on February 9, 2025 in Tirupati.