How Fake Ghee Worth ₹250 Crore Fooled Tirupati Trust For 5 Years: CBI Uncovers Massive Adulteration Scam
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unearthed a massive ghee adulteration scam involving the supply of 68 lakh kilograms of fake ghee worth nearly ₹250 crore to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) — the trust that manages the world-famous Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh — over a span of five years.
According to a detailed Times of India report, the investigation has revealed that a dairy in Uttarakhand, identified as Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, supplied ghee to the temple trust between 2019 and 2024, despite never having procured a single drop of milk or butter from any legitimate source.
The CBI’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) made the startling disclosures in its remand report submitted to a Nellore court, following the arrest of Ajay Kumar Sugandh, who allegedly supplied chemical additives such as monodiglycerides and acetic acid ester — substances used to simulate the texture and aroma of pure ghee — to the dairy.
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As per the CBI report, promoters Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, who run the Bhole Baba Organic Dairy in Bhagwanpur, Uttarakhand, had established a fake ghee manufacturing unit.
They are accused of forging milk procurement records and payment documents to make the operation appear legitimate.
Although Bhole Baba Dairy was blacklisted by the TTD in 2022 after suspicions of adulteration arose, the scam continued through proxy contracts and associated dairies.
The promoters allegedly routed supplies through other dairies to continue winning tenders and delivering substandard, synthetic ghee to the trust.
The probe also exposed a startling case of resupplied rejected ghee. In July 2024, TTD rejected four containers of ghee adulterated with animal fat, originally supplied by AR Dairy.
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However, investigators discovered that these containers never returned to the AR plant. Instead, they were diverted to a local stone-crushing unit near the Vyshnavi Dairy plant, where the ghee was secretly reprocessed, relabelled, and improved for texture.
By August 2024, the rebranded synthetic ghee was supplied back to TTD — this time through Vyshnavi Dairy, which changed the labels on the trucks and disguised the adulterated stock.
Shockingly, CBI sources confirmed that the same ghee was eventually used in the preparation of the temple’s sacred “Tirupati Laddu” prasadam, consumed by lakhs of devotees.
The CBI found that the accused leveraged fake documentation, forged bank records, and fraudulent quality certificates to bypass procurement checks. The elaborate network of shell suppliers and front companies ensured that the spurious ghee went undetected for years.
