The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out a multi-state operation in connection with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) ghee adulteration fraud case, conducting searches at 15 locations
across the country. The case involves allegations that adulterated ghee was supplied for use in the famed temple’s rituals and operations, causing financial loss and raising serious concerns over the misuse of religious trust.
According to officials, the raids were conducted in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. In Maharashtra, searches took place in Ahilyanagar and Mumbai, while in Rajasthan they were conducted in Bikaner. In Uttarakhand, operations were carried out in Dehradun and Roorkee. The ED also searched premises in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, and locations in Delhi.
During the day-long operation, the ED claimed to have seized cash amounting to Rs 60 lakh, ANI reported. The agency said the searches also uncovered details of investments of Proceeds of Crime (PoC) in properties valued at more than Rs 45 crore. Investigators further identified several immovable properties allegedly held in the names of the accused individuals and their family members.
The ED’s Hyderabad zonal office led the operation, targeting both residential and office premises of multiple suspects. Those named by the agency include Pomil Jain, Vipin Jain, Raju Rajasekaran, Rajesh Mansukhlal Chavda, Apurva Vinaykanth Chavda, Machindra Shantaram Lanke, Ajay Kumar Sugandh, Mahesh Kumar Rohira and Ashish Agarwal.
The searches also extended to dairy plants believed to be linked to the case. These included the facilities of AR Dairy Food Pvt Ltd in Dindigul, Malganga Milk and Agro Products Pvt Ltd in Ahilyanagar, and Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Milk Pvt Ltd in Roorkee.
The ED said it seized various incriminating documents during the raids, which allegedly point to the use of a complex network of legal entities to carry out bogus sale and purchase transactions. This network was purportedly used to conceal and layer the Proceeds of Crime, making it difficult to trace the illicit funds.
The money laundering probe was initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered against AR Dairy Food Pvt Ltd and others. The accused are alleged to have conspired with certain TTD officials to commit criminal breach of trust and cheating, thereby causing wrongful loss to the TTD by supplying adulterated ghee.
