6 months ago
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The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the ghee adulteration lawsuit nether the supervision of the CBI has recovered that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) received supplies of adulterated ghee for implicit 5 years.
The apprehension of Ajay Kumar Sugandh, named arsenic A-16 successful the case, has revealed disturbing details, including the usage of chemicals specified arsenic monodiglycerides and acetic acerb ester by Bhole Baba Dairy, which had a declaration to proviso ghee to the TTD.
In its remand study submitted to the ACB Court successful Nellore, the SIT noted that the dairy, established astatine Bhagawanpur successful Uttarakhand, had managed to proviso an estimated 68 lakh kilograms of ghee to the TTD betwixt 2019 and 2024—despite not procuring a azygous driblet of beverage oregon food from immoderate root successful the country.
Investigations revealed that the promoters had acceptable up a ammunition portion solely to proviso spurious ghee worthy ₹250 crore to the TTD during the period. The beverage procurement and outgo records produced by the Bhole Baba Dairy promoters were recovered to beryllium fabricated, arsenic section cattle rearers confirmed they had ne'er supplied beverage to the company.
The promoters reportedly purchased a defunct dairy portion adjacent and procured thenar lipid and kernel lipid nether the sanction of Harsh Fresh Dairy from a Delhi-based importer of Malaysian thenar oil. Using these oils and different chemicals, the dairy manufactured spurious ghee exclusively for proviso to the TTD.
The investigators besides recovered that the producers had indiscriminately utilized acetic acerb esters successful the last merchandise to manipulate the RM (Reichert-Meissl) value—an indispensable parameter successful the adulteration tests conducted by the TTD’s prime power team. Notably, Bhole Baba Dairy procured acetic acerb ester worthy ₹7 crore from Ajay Sugandh betwixt 2022 and 2024 alone.
Shockingly, adjacent aft being blacklisted by the TTD successful 2022, Bhole Baba Dairy continued to proviso adulterated ghee by routing its bids done different dairies, including Vyshnavi Dairy of Tirupati, Mal Ganga Dairy of Uttar Pradesh, and AR Dairy Foods of Tamil Nadu.
