CBI arrests four persons in Tirupati laddu controversy
Tirupati: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reported discovering “severe lapses” in the e-tendering process of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) following the arrest of four people and their placement on judicial remand by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in relation to the adulteration of ghee used in the Tirumala Srivari Laddu.
In response to Supreme Court directives, the CBI established an SIT to look into the case. The investigative agency claims that AR Dairy, Vaishnavi Dairy, and Bhole Baba Dairy are connected to the crime, and the remand report verified adulteration in the ghee provided.
Bipin and Pomil Jain, former directors of Bhole Baba Dairy (Roorkee, Uttarakhand); Apoorva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy (Poonambakkam); and Raju Rajasekharan, MD of AR Dairy (Dundigal), are among those detained.
The accused were questioned for three days in Tirupati, but the Telugu Desam Party claims that in spite of overwhelming evidence against them, they refused to cooperate. Devotees are furious when investigations turned up disturbing claims that ghee included traces from animal carcasses.
AR Dairy, which was under contract with TTD, was convicted of a number of infractions. According to TDP, Joint Director Viresh Prabhu has been sent to Tirupati to oversee the inquiry.
Lanka Dinakar, a spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata party, said yesterday that all those recently detained in relation to the purported adulteration of ghee used to prepare the holy laddu Prasadam at the Tirupati temple will appear in court.
The BJP leader told ANI that all of the people who were detained will soon appear in court. He said that an inquiry into the suspected adulteration of the prasad at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, is still underway.
“As part of this procedure, the SIT detained Bipin Jain, Samil Jain of Bhole Baba Dairy in Roorkee, Apoorva Vinay Kant Chawda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy in Poonambakkam, and Raju Rajasekharan, MD of AR Dairy in Dundigal, yesterday. The inquiry is still underway, and everything will be presented in court,” Dinakar said.
TTD Board Member Bhanu Prakash Reddy responded to the arrest of four individuals in the Tirupati Laddu dispute case by saying, “Three to four dairy directors were arrested last night and are now being held on remand.
Who is responsible for this? All the circumstances of why this occurred will be revealed. We are certain that those responsible will face severe consequences. There are more individuals involved in the dairy and other matters. We will use evidence to prove and apprehend them throughout the investigation.”
