Dehradun: A massive food fraud has been uncovered involving an Uttarakhand-based company, Bhole Baba Organic Dairy, which supplied 68 lakh kilograms of adulterated ghee worth ₹250 crore to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) between 2019 and 2024 — despite not procuring a single drop of milk or butter. The ghee was used in preparing the iconic laddu prasadam served to devotees at the world-famous Tirupati temple.
Investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) revealed that the so-called dairy, owned by Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, had no milk collection network, no butter production, and no functioning dairy plant capable of manufacturing genuine ghee. Yet, the firm managed to corner multi-crore contracts to supply the temple trust by faking records of milk procurement and payment ledgers.
The SIT report says Bhole Baba Organic Dairy forged documents and created fictitious farmer lists to meet eligibility norms. Even after the company was blacklisted in 2022 for poor manufacturing practices, it continued to channel adulterated ghee into the temple kitchens through proxy firms — Vaishnavi Dairy, Mal Ganga Dairy, and AR Dairy Foods.
These proxy companies floated fresh tenders using fake GST numbers, forged food safety certificates, and fabricated test reports. Financial trails unearthed by investigators revealed regular fund transfers from Bhole Baba to these proxies as commissions for facilitating the fraudulent supplies.
Laboratory analyses conducted on ghee samples collected this year confirmed large-scale adulteration with vegetable fat and traces of animal fat. Despite repeated warnings and failed quality checks, temple officials continued to clear consignments from these proxy suppliers.
Officials suspect that internal collusion within the temple’s procurement wing allowed the scam to persist for nearly five years. “The dairy neither produced milk nor butter, yet managed to supply thousands of kilograms of ghee every month to one of India’s most revered temples,” said a senior SIT officer. “It is a textbook case of organized food fraud disguised as religious supply.”
The CBI and SIT have arrested the main accused and filed detailed reports in court outlining how the scam operated. The investigation found that the same set of companies kept winning contracts by submitting identical tender documents and fake inspection reports.
Public outrage has grown following the revelations, with devotees expressing shock that the sacred laddu prasadam — considered a divine offering — was made using adulterated ghee. Temple authorities have assured that they will strengthen procurement and quality-control systems to prevent such deceit in the future.
“This is not only financial corruption but a betrayal of faith,” said a senior TTD official. “We are cooperating fully with investigators and will ensure accountability at every level.”
The scandal has also prompted a wider review of dairy operations in Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh. Officials have frozen assets belonging to Bhole Baba Organic Dairy and its proxy firms pending further investigation.
The case has exposed how a company with no milk, no butter, and no legitimate production capacity managed to supply massive quantities of fake ghee to one of India’s most sacred temples — turning what was meant to be a divine offering into an industrial deception.
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