The CBI has arrested four people named former directors of Bhole Baba Dairy in Roorkee Pomil Jain and Bipin Jain; Apoorva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy, Poonambakkam; and Raju Rajasekharan, the MD of AR Dairy, Dundigal in the  Tirupati laddu adulteration case.

Last year, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government alleged that the prasadam offered at Tirupati’s Bhagwan Venkateswara Temple, in the form of laddu, had been adulterated with animal fat, sparking nationwide outrage. A five-member team of two CBI officers, two officials from the Andhra Pradesh government, and one representative from India's Food Safety Standards Authority has been investigating the matter.

As per the sources of the Andhra Pradesh government, in Tirupati, “the investigation has revealed serious violations in the ghee supply” during the tenure of the previous YSRCP government, which lasted from 2014 to 2019.

According to the sources, “Representatives of Vaishnavi Dairy secured tenders in the name of AR Dairy for ghee supply and fabricated documents to claim that the ghee was sourced from Bhole Baba Dairy in Roorkee. The CBI authorities have found that Bhole Baba Dairy did not have the capacity to supply huge quantities of ghee.”

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), responsible for managing the temple, requires 15,000 litres of ghee to make laddus. AR Foods, a company from Tamil Nadu, won the tender to supply the ghee at a rate of ₹320 per kilogram. When eight tankers carrying the ghee reached TTD, four were sent to laboratories for adulteration testing.

The official said, “The ghee was sent for testing on July 8, 2024. On July 17, NDDB lab reports confirmed adulteration”.

The laddu adulteration scandal became a major political issue in Andhra Pradesh, with the TDP criticising the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy government for “playing with the most pious of offerings in Tirupati.”