The case involving the Tirupati ghee laddu scam reached a critical juncture on Friday. The chargesheet filed by the special investigation team of the Central Bureau of Investigation paints a grim picture of widespread fraud, with 36 persons being named as accused, including nine officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams and five dairy experts. As per the investigators, an astonishing 68 lakh kilograms of "synthetic ghee," valued at approximately ₹250 crores, had entered the temple kitchens between 2021 and 2024.
The technicalities of the ghee scam are quite chilling. The chargesheet indicates that the main ingredient was not even food-grade fat but a "chemical sludge" that could be easily mistaken for cow ghee. Even more shocking, the report confirms that lard and beef tallow were found in tankers that had been rejected, only to be recycled and slipped back into the temple's supply line. The main supplier, Uttarakhand-based Bhole Baba Dairy, allegedly didn't buy any actual milk or butter during this time; instead, they churned out a concoction of palm oil and kernel oil, spiked with chemical additives.
The scam wasn't just a failure of supply, but a total breakdown of oversight. A Delhi-based trader, Ajay Kumar Sugandh, is also said to have provided the artificial flavours and acetic acid esters required to deceive the senses and fool laboratory tests. At the TTD, senior officials such as former Procurement GM RSSVR Subrahmanyam are also charged with accepting bribes to turn a blind eye to the evidence of vegetable fats and signing off on false quality certificates. The analysis conducted by the National Dairy Development Board supported this claim with "S-values" as low as 19.72— a staggering reduction from the normal 98-104 range that indicates pure ghee.
This legal milestone comes after months of nationwide outrage that began in September 2024, when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu first brought his claims to the public, alleging that animal fat had been mixed into the sacred Tirupati laddus during the previous government.
Also read: CBI names 36 accused in Tirupati laddu adulteration case
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