SIT moves case to ACB court, 2 TTD officials booked

Tirupati : The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the ghee adulteration case has taken a significant step forward with the second additional junior civil judge court approving the transfer of the case to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Nellore. This move comes as the SIT has charged two officials from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) with corruption in connection to the case.

A petition has been filed to invoke Sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act against a senior assistant and a superintendent, both serving in TTD’s marketing department.

The high-profile investigation, led by a five-member SIT under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has garnered nationwide attention. The team comprises CBI joint director (Hyderabad) Veeresh Prabhu, CBI SP (Visakhapatnam) Murali Rambha, IG Sarvashresth Tripathi, DIG Gopinath Jatti, and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) official Dr Satya Kumar Panda.

So far, the SIT has arrested four key accused: Raju Rajasekharan, managing director of AR Dairy in Tamil Nadu; Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain, directors of Bhole Baba Organic Dairy in Uttarakhand; and Apoorva Vinaykanth Chavda, CEO of Vaishnavi Dairy Specialties Limited in Tirupati district. Currently held in judicial remand at Tirupati sub-jail, they were previously interrogated under SIT custody for five days from February 14 to 18. Additionally, Pomil Jain and Apoorva Chavda were held in further custody from March 4 to 6 for extended questioning.

With corruption allegations now forming a crucial part of the case, the SIT sought court approval to transfer proceedings to the ACB court, which was granted.

Following the order, the SIT retrieved all case documents and evidence for submission to the ACB court in Nellore, where the next round of hearings will take place. Meanwhile, bail petitions filed by the accused have been rejected twice by the Tirupati court. With the case now under the jurisdiction of the ACB court, any further bail applications must be filed there. The SIT is intensifying its efforts to conclude the investigation and compile its findings for submission to the Supreme Court, which mandated the probe.