Despite CFTRI red flag, adulterated ghee used in laddus for 2 years: SIT
- Lab reports flagged beta-sitosterol, confirming vegetable oil adulteration
- While CFTRI warned contamination in August 2022, implicated dairies continued supplying ghee well into 2024
- SIT accuses officials of suppressing reports and enabling continued use
Tirupati: The CBI-led Special Investigation Team (SIT) found that adulterated ghee was used in preparing the Tirumala laddu prasadam for almost two years after the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, formally warned the TTD about contamination in August 2022.
The CBI-led Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the adulteration case, says the laboratory findings were neither acted upon nor communicated to senior management, allowing implicated dairies to continue supplying ghee well into 2024.
According to the memo, CFTRI’s report dated August 3, 2022 identified beta-sitosterol, a decisive marker of vegetable oil adulteration, in samples taken from Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, Premier Agro Foods and Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities. The warehouse wing forwarded these results to then General Manager (Procurement) RSSVR Subrahmanyam (A-29), but the SIT says he did not disclose them to higher authorities or initiate action mandated under tender conditions.
As a result, Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, despite being disqualified a month earlier for failing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) norms, continued supplying ghee until October 2022. Premier Agro Foods and Sri Vyshnavi Dairy continued deliveries into 2024, even though all three dairies were named in CFTRI’s adulteration findings.
The SIT alleges that suppression of the lab results occurred at multiple points. Junior assistant P Eswar Reddy (A-25), posted at Godown-IV, allegedly withheld the CFTRI report from the file movement chain while facilitating tanker unloading for the same dairies.
He is accused of receiving Rs 23,600 from their representatives between June 2022 and November 2024. Former deputy executive officer (Warehouse) P Venkata Natesh Babu (A-27), alleged to have taken Rs 18,100 in cash and Rs 2,000 digitally, also permitted ghee consignments to be unloaded before test results were reviewed.
The memo states that senior assistant M Venkata Anil Kumar (A-26), who allegedly received Rs 59,600, supported internal notings favouring additional allocations for Bhole Baba after its disqualification. Along with Subrahmanyam, he is also accused of recommending exemptions from revised FSSR standards for two dairies in 2022 — standards that specifically required beta-sitosterol testing.
The SIT says the continued use of adulterated ghee was enabled by this combination of omissions and deliberate suppression. It notes that ghee blended with palm oil, palmolein, palm kernel oil, beta-carotene, acetic acid ester and ghee-flavouring agents continued entering TTD stores and was used in laddu preparation until 2024, causing financial loss to the institution and ‘hurting the sentiments of crores of devotees’.
