In a major administrative shake-up following the explosive Tirupati "adulterated ghee" investigation, the Andhra Pradesh government has transferred TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal. The 1993-batch IAS officer, who led the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams from 2017 to 2020 under the Jagan Mohan Reddy administration, has been directed to report to the General Administration Department. He is being replaced by Muddada Ravichandra.
The timing is hard to ignore, coming just a week after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed its charge sheet in a Tirupati court. The SIT’s findings indicate a series of deliberate policy shifts since April 2019. As per the investigation, a committee that was formed with the then-EO’s approval recommended relaxing several key tender conditions for ghee procurement. These changes were officially greenlit by the TTD Board in early 2020.
The SIT argues that these "relaxations" were a game-changer— and not in a good way. They effectively sidelined established cooperative dairies, opening the door for private players, some of which reportedly didn't even procure their own milk or have the necessary experience. The result, investigators claim, was a significant drop in quality that compromised the sacred Laddu Prasadam.
Backing these claims, State Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav noted on Saturday that lab reports from the NDDB confirmed the presence of animal fats in the ghee samples. Keshav was blunt in his assessment, alleging that the evidence shows the adulteration only began after the change in government in 2019. With Singhal’s transfer, it’s clear the current administration is looking to make a clean break from the previous procurement era as the legal case moves forward.
Also read: CBI flags ₹250-crore ghee scam in Tirupati laddu scandal
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