Tirupati laddu supplier arrested for manufacturing fake ghee from palm oil and chemicals

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a dairy executive accused of manufacturing ’96 crore worth of fake ghee—blended with palm oil and industrial chemicals—that was ultimately used to make the sacred laddus at the Tirupati temple.

Kailash Chand Mangla, the promoter of Sukriti Foods, was arrested by the agency's Hyderabad office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Following his arrest, a special court in Visakhapatnam remanded him to judicial custody.

The arrest marks a major development in the investigation into how adulterated ingredients made their way into the kitchens of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the state-run trust managing the ancient hill temple in Andhra Pradesh.

What was in the fake ghee?

The temple requires "Agmark Special Grade" cow ghee to prepare the sweet laddus, which are distributed as sacred prasadam to millions of pilgrims. Instead, the ED alleges that Mangla’s factory manufactured a cheap imitation using refined palm oil, palm kernel oil, and palmolein.

To make the vegetable oils look and feel like genuine clarified butter, the manufacturer allegedly blended in a cocktail of chemical additives, including monoglycerides, MG-90, Myvacet Soft 400, and acetic acid ester.

how much fake ghee was supplied?

According to the ED, the fraud ran for five years, between 2019 and 2024, with the total value of fraudulent ghee supplies to the temple estimated at ’230 crore. Investigators allege that nearly 40% of this supply—valued at ’96 crore—was manufactured at Mangla’s factory.

Investigators say Mangla went to great lengths to hide the adulteration. He is accused of creating and maintaining a double set of books, falsifying records of palm oil and ghee transactions to make the factory’s production look like a legitimate dairy operation.

How did the network operate?

The ED alleges that Mangla did not supply the temple directly under his company's name. Instead, he is accused of using a network of front entities to route the adulterated ghee to the temple. These intermediary companies included Sri Vyshnavi Dairy Specialities, Malganga Milk & Agro Products, and A.R. Dairy Foods.

The federal money-laundering case stems from an initial police investigation. The Tirupati East police station registered the original FIR, accusing those involved of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and corruption.

Mangla is the second major figure to be taken into custody. The ED previously arrested Vipin Jain, the promoter and director of Bhole Baba Organic Dairy Milk, whom investigators accuse of orchestrating the fraudulent supply network to the temple trust.