20cr Tirupati laddus between 2019-24 made with spurious ghee: Probe
What's the story
A staggering 20.1 crore laddus distributed or sold by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) between 2019 and 2024 were made with spurious or toxic ghee, an internal assessment report has revealed. The Bhole Baba dairy of Uttarakhand and its proxies supplied this adulterated ghee, which was used to prepare about 40% of the total laddus during this period. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is currently probing this major scandal.
Investigation findings
SIT probe reveals scale of ghee adulteration
The SIT probe had earlier found that Bhole Baba dairy and its proxy dairies supplied 68 lakh kg of spurious ghee, worth ₹250 crore. The CBI-led SIT uncovered a complex adulteration scheme where no real milk or butter was procured. Instead, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and hydrogenated fats along with beta-carotene and "ghee essence," were used to produce the counterfeit ghee.
Probe
Tricks used to pass quality tests
To pass TTD's quality tests, the dairy allegedly employed chemical tricks like acetic-acid esters to artificially increase the RM value of their synthetic product. Despite being blacklisted by TTD in 2022, Bhole Baba continued supplying fake ghee through proxies such as Vyshnavi Dairy (Andhra Pradesh), Mal Ganga Dairy (Uttar Pradesh), and AR Dairy Foods (Tamil Nadu), the SIT found.
Purity concerns
TTD chairman expresses concern over laddu purity
TTD chairman B R Naidu expressed concern over which laddus were served to devotees, saying nearly 11 crore devotees visited Tirumala in the last five years. Meanwhile, TTD board member G Bhanu Prakash Reddy said since the laddu prasadam offered to common devotees and VVIPs like the PM and president is the same, TTD isn't sure if the laddus offered to them were pure or impure.
Procurement defense
Strict recipe followed for laddus
The age-old recipe for the sacred laddu rigorously follows a predetermined proportion of Bengal gram flour, ghee, sugar, cashew nuts, raisins, cardamom, and sugar candy, which is never altered to retain uniformity and taste. On average, the Potu (temple kitchen) makes 3.5 lakh laddus every day, weighing 175 gm apiece and utilizing 11,500 kg of ghee.