SIT uncovers massive ghee adulteration!

Tirupati: The disclosure that nearly 20 crore Tirumala laddus were made using adulterated ghee over five years has emerged as the most disturbing finding in the CBI-monitored inquiry into food-quality violations at the world-renowned hill shrine. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has concluded that spurious ghee infiltrated the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) supply chain between 2019 and 2024, directly affecting laddus offered to crores of devotees.

Officials familiar with the probe say the SIT has identified 68 lakh kg of substandard ghee, allegedly mixed with palm oil, palm-kernel derivatives and other additives. This stock alone was used in preparing about 20.1 crore laddus out of the 48.76 crore distributed during the period in question. These laddus reached 10.97 crore devotees who visited the temple between June 2019 and June 2024.

A preliminary probe led by DIG Sarvashresth Tripathi pointed to dubious procurement patterns, and the matter reached the Supreme Court. The apex court subsequently handed the case over to a five-member CBI-led SIT.

The team examined a large volume of records, including Potu (temple kitchen) logs, procurement documents, distribution data, material movement registers and daily footfall statistics. Investigators found that during the five-year period, TTD purchased 1.61 crore kg of ghee worth Rs 534.7 crore, of which nearly Rs 250 crore worth was supplied by Bhole Baba Dairy in Uttarakhand and its proxy entities, now suspected to be responsible for the adulterated stock

The Potu in Tirumala, where the traditional recipe of Bengal gram flour, sugar, cardamom and dry fruits mixed with premium ghee has remained largely unchanged for decades, produces around 3.5 lakh laddus every day, using 11,500 kg of ghee daily, each containing roughly 33 grams of ghee. When this average is scaled to the 48.76 crore laddus made over five years, the numbers line up almost perfectly with the 1.61 crore kg of ghee that were bought.

This one-to-one match allowed investigators to estimate how many laddus may have been touched by the tainted ghee, with procurement logs and kitchen consumption telling the same story. The investigators have also concluded that it is impossible to identify which batches reached devotees and which were prepared using authentic ghee.