Tirumala laddu scam: Blacklisted dairy firm caught using proxy suppliers

A remand report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has revealed a major scandal in the making of Tirupati laddus. It shows that a banned dairy company kept supplying bad ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) through other firms. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) led the investigation, which found a fraudulent supply chain. Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Pvt Ltd, banned in 2022 for poor manufacturing practices, used Vaishnavi Dairy and AR Dairy to get contracts and deliver low-quality ghee.

Bhole Baba Dairy has supplied ghee to the TTD for Rs 291 per kg since 2019. In 2022, an inspection found that their manufacturing processes were unsatisfactory, which led to the company being barred from future tenders. Instead of leaving the market, the dairy allegedly used proxies to return.

Vaishnavi Dairy won a tender in 2020, and AR Dairy obtained another contract in March 2024 using forged documents. The SIT's report to a local court shows that Bhole Baba Dairy helped its proxies secure these deals by allegedly faking food safety certifications to meet the tender requirements.

AR Dairy was required to supply Agmark-certified ghee under the contract. However, the report claims they didn’t produce the ghee themselves; they sourced it from Vaishnavi Dairy, which obtained it from the blacklisted Bhole Baba Dairy. This violated the contract terms, and the supplied ghee was allegedly adulterated.

The operation involved making fake food safety certifications to win contracts. Although the suppliers were supposed to provide Agmark-certified ghee, the report claims that they delivered adulterated ghee to the temple. When this scheme was revealed, four people were arrested: Vipin Jain and Pomil Jain, former directors of Bhole Baba Dairy; Apoorva Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy; and Raju Rajasekharan, the Managing Director of AR Dairy.

A Special Investigation Team led by the CBI confirmed that arrests were made after serious problems in the ghee supply chain were found. Officials stated that Vaishnavi Dairy had illegally obtained tenders using the name of AR Dairy and had faked records to manipulate the process. Investigators also discovered that Vaishnavi Dairy falsely claimed it was getting ghee from Bhole Baba Dairy, even though Bhole Baba Dairy could not produce enough to meet TTD’s needs.

An investigation began after claims that Tirupati laddus contained animal fat. On October 4, the Supreme Court agreed to look into petitions by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy. The court ordered a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the claims under the supervision of the CBI director. This case has turned into a major political issue in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has accused the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, of serious negligence in temple management.

Naidu previously claimed that the YSRCP government did not protect the Sri Venkateswara Temple. He accused them of allowing the sacred laddus to use poor-quality ingredients and possibly animal fat. His comments during an NDA legislative party meeting caused anger among devotees and political rivals.

The controversy has led to a large public outcry, with followers asking for temple management. to be held accountable. A five-member investigation team will investigate the scandal, including two CBI officers, two officials from the Andhra Pradesh government and one representative from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

With religious feelings involved, the TTD is under increasing pressure to regain public trust and apply stricter purchasing policies. The SIT also checks if several officials helped a banned supplier continue working through others. As the investigation continues, the scandal could change the political and administrative environment around one of India’s most important religious institutions.