U'khand firm behind adulterated ghee: SIT

The ghee which was found to be adulterated with animal fat and supplied to Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh for making of sacred "laddu prasadam" last year was supplied by Uttarakhand-based firm which was earlier disqualified by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) in 2022, investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-led special investigation team (SIT) revealed.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD:

In its remand report submitted to the local court in Tirupati on Sunday night following the arrest of four people who belong to three different dairy firms, the SIT authorities disclosed that it was Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Private Limited, based out of Roorkee in Uttarakhand, which had supplied the ghee to TTD in June 2014, routing it through Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities Pvt Ltd at Punabaka in Tirupati district and AR Dairy, Dundigal, Chennai. The arrested were identified as Pomil Jain and Bipin Jain, directors of Bhole Baba Dairy, Apurva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Sri Vaishnavi Dairy and Raju Rajasekharan, the MD of AR Dairy. The remand report which surfaced on Wednesday, was seen by HT.

Tirupati additional superintendent of police J Venkat Rao, who is also the investigating officer of the SIT, said in the report that Bhole Baba Dairy had supplied ghee to TTD at the rate of ₹291, in the name of Sri Vaishnavi Dairy in 2019. While Vaishnavi Dairy bagged the tenders for supply of ghee to the TTD, the entire ghee was supplied by Bhole Baba Dairy, which not only bore all expenses for transport but also paid 2-3% commission to Vyshnavi Dairy. Accordingly, Vyshnavi Dairy supplied ghee in tankers as well as in tins to the TTD in 2020.