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Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) executive engineer RSSVR Subramanyam was arrested on November 27 by the SIT probing the alleged use of spurious ghee in the making of Tirumala laddu. So far ten arrests have been made in the case, including Subramanyam.
Ghee is alleged to have been improperly procured and adulterated between 2019 and 2024 when the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led the state government.
According to the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) records, Subramanyam held the post of general manager for procurement from July 2017 to May 2018 and again from May 2020 to May 2023.
On November 7 the SIT arrested a man from New Delhi identified as Ajay Kumar Sugandh, who supplied chemicals to the Bhole Baba Dairy in Uttarakhand, which allegedly used them to adulterate the ghee.
The remand report for Ajay Kumar’s arrest noted that Bhole Baba Dairy used palm oil, palm kernel oil, palmolein, a minimal quantity of ghee, and chemicals such as beta-carotene, acetic acid ester, and ghee flavour.
The remand report, however, doesn’t mention the presence of animal fats such as beef tallow, a controversial accusation made by the ruling coalition of TDP, Jana Sena Party and BJP.
According to SIT findings, the then TTD Board approved ghee procurement worth several crore rupees from multiple dairies, including the Bhole Baba Dairy (Uttarakhand), AR Dairy (Dindigul, Tamil Nadu), Vaishnavi Dairy (Punabaka, Tirupati district) and Malgang Dairies (Uttar Pradesh). It is estimated that the TTD purchased 1.61 crore kg of ghee, of which officials now claim that 68 lakh kg was adulterated.
The SIT recently questioned former TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy at his Hyderabad residence and has already detained his former personal assistant Chinna Appanna for interrogation.