Chennai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered a massive scam involving the supply of adulterated ghee worth around ₹250 crore to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which uses the ghee to prepare its world-famous Tirupati laddus.

According to the CBI probe, Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, based in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, supplied nearly 68 lakh kilograms of spurious ghee to the temple trust between 2019 and 2024. Investigators allege that the dairy’s promoters, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, set up a fake desi ghee manufacturing unit and forged milk procurement records to pass off substandard material as pure ghee. ADVERTISEMENT

The scam came to light after the arrest of Ajay Kumar Sugandh, one of the accused, who revealed that despite being blacklisted by the TTD in 2022

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