Nellore ACB Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To External Dairy Expert In Laddu Ghee Case

What are you doing? The Nellore ACB Court on Friday refused bail to M. Vijayabhaskar Reddy, an external dairy expert accused in the Tirumala laddu adulterated ghee case.

The court upheld the decision after hearing the arguments of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) who opposed the bail application. Deputy Public Prosecutor Jaya Sekhar, appearing on behalf of the SIT, informed the court that Vijayabhaskar Reddy had issued positive audit reports to some ghee supplying companies despite their poor performance. The prosecution said these reports made it possible to procure adulterated oil for the preparation of laddu prasadam.

The SIT also filed the allegation that the accused received bribes from Bhole Baba Company and Premier Company in 2023. According to the prosecution, the reports submitted by Vijayabhaskar Reddy resulted in financial losses of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) running into hundreds of billions of rupees. Accepting the prosecutor’s allegations, the court did not allow the suspect to be released on bail.

Meanwhile, the SIT recently added 12 more accused in the case. Seven of them are TTD employees and five are outside dairy experts. SIT said investigation revealed that some of the accused took bribes from dairy representatives and submitted positive reports.