Andhra HC grants bail to three persons accused in TTD ghee adulteration case

Amaravati, July 3 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday granted bail to three persons accused of supplying adulterated ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which administers the famous Sri Venkateswara Temple.

The High Court granted bail to Apurva Vinaykanth Chavda, Pomil Jain and Vipin Jain on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 each.

"The petitioners shall be enlarged on bail on each of them executing a personal bond for a sum of Rs 25,000 with two sureties for the like each, to the satisfaction of the II Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Tirupati," said the Court in its order.

The Court observed that the accused persons, who have been languishing in jail for more than four months, are not a flight risk and also pointed out that they cooperated with the investigation.

"Entire investigation is over and charge sheet has been filed. Hence, this Court is of the opinion that incarceration of the petitioners further is not necessary," said the court.

Further, the court noted that bail jurisprudence is based on the touchstone of the principle 'bail is rule and jail is an exception'.

In a constitutional controlled criminal justice system, the court said a balancing approach has to be adopted protecting the rights of the accused and upholding the collective interest of the society, which requires a fearless environment.

Back in September 2024, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had alleged that the previous YSRCP government had used substandard ingredients and animal fat in making the world renowned Tirupati laddu, raking up a major controversy at the national level.

Following his allegations, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the matter.

In February, the Supreme Court-appointed SIT had arrested Vipin Jain and Pomil Jain, former directors of Bhole Baba Dairy, Apoorva Chavda from Vaishnavi Dairy and Raju Rajasekharan from AR Dairy. PTI STH GDK SA