TTD ghee adulteration case: SIT arrests close aide of former Chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged ghee adulteration case has arrested Chinna Appanna, a close aide and former personal assistant of TTD’s former Trust Board Chairman and Rajya Sabha member Y.V. Subba Reddy.

Mr. Appanna has been named as accused No. 24 in the case being investigated by the team led by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He was arrested at Alipiri here on Thursday, produced before the ACB court in Nellore, and sent to judicial remand till November 11.

According to the investigation, Mr. Appanna allegedly sought details of all the ghee suppliers from the general manager of the TTD’s procurement wing, and contacted some of them, demanding a commission of ₹25 per kg of ghee supplied to the TTD.

When representatives of the Bhole Baba dairy declined to pay the commission, Mr. Appanna allegedly insisted upon the officials to conduct a physical inspection of their plant once again, in a bid to get them disqualified from participating in future tenders. He also allegedly sent anonymous letters to the TTD against the dairy.

After the Bhole Baba dairy got eliminated from the further round of tenders, Mr. Appanna allegedly played a key role in getting Premier Agri Foods into the ring, which quoted a price of ₹467 per kg of ghee, a whopping ₹138/kg higher than the previous supplier Bhole Baba dairy’s ₹329.

After inspecting Mr. Appanna’s call records and bank statements, the officials found that he had received kickbacks to the tune of ₹50 lakh in various forms, including Hawala channels.

‘Vegetable fats’

The SIT officials found that the ghee samples collected from various suppliers at the behest of Mr. Subba Reddy were sent to the CFTRI-Mysuru for adulteration checks in 2022, which revealed the presence of vegetable fats (Vanaspati). However, no action had been taken against the companies, which continued to supply the same ghee till 2024.

Between 2022 and 2024, around 68 lakh kg of “adulterated ghee” worth ₹250 crore was supplied to the TTD, with the contractors supplying the same at ₹400/kg, which had been procured at ₹250/kg, the investigating team found.