Probe Team Adds 11 Names To Accused List In Tirupati Laddu Adulteration Case

More temple officials have come under the scanner of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Tirumala Tirupati laddu prasadam ghee adulteration case, with fresh names added to the FIR as accused.

On Saturday, the SIT added 11 more people, including seven Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) employees, as accused in the case. Those named include former general managers, engineers, senior and junior assistants, and technical inspection staff.

The newly added TTD accused include former general manager Jagadeeshwara Reddy, retired general manager Pranay Kaveri Muralikrishna, deputy executive officer Polepalli Venkata Natesh Babu, superintendent engineer Peruru Jagadishwar Reddy, executive engineer Rallapalli Srinivas, senior assistant Muddu Venkata Anil Kumar and junior assistant Palle Eeshwar Reddy.

With the Nellore Anti-Corruption Bureau court accepting the SIT's memo adding more accused, tension has spread within the TTD establishment.

Former TTD Executive Engineer Subrahmanyam, a former General Manager of the TTD procurement wing, was arrested by SIT. With this, the total number of arrests in the case has now reached 10.

According to the SIT, he played a major role in approving contracts for the supply of fake ghee. Investigators say he and another arrested accused, Chinna Appanna, together collected a commission of Rs 25 per kg from contractors who supplied adulterated ghee to the TTD.

The SIT's charge memo shows that between 2019 and 2024, nearly 20.01 crore laddus were made using adulterated ghee. Out of the 48.76 crore laddus prepared during this period, almost 40 per cent were found to contain palm oil, palm kernel oil, and chemical additives.

During these years, the TTD paid close to Rs 250 crore to suppliers such as Bhole Baba Dairy (Uttarakhand), AR Dairy (Tamil Nadu), Vaishnavi Dairy (Tirupati district) and Malganga Dairy (Uttar Pradesh)

From these dairies, the TTD procured 1.61 crore kilograms of ghee, out of which about 68 lakh kilograms has been identified as adulterated. The SIT found that some suppliers, including Bhole Baba Dairy, continued sending fake ghee even after being blacklisted in 2022 by changing company names and supply routes.

Tirumala temple prepares nearly 4 lakh laddus every day, using 12,000 to 13,000 kg of ghee. SIT officials say the adulterated ghee was knowingly cleared by certain officials in the procurement wing.

The SIT also recently questioned former TTD Chairman and YSRCP MP YV Subba Reddy at his Hyderabad residence. His former personal assistant Chinna Appanna is already under arrest and is believed to be one of the key links in the scam.