Category: News
The Supreme Court has refused to move the trial in the Tirupati laddu ghee adulteration case out of Andhra Pradesh.
On Thursday, 5 November 2026, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, dismissed a plea to transfer the trial to a neighbouring state. The court said: “No case made out to transfer trial. Dismissed.”
Who asked for the transfer
The plea was filed by Machindra Shantaram Lanke, a Maharashtra-based dairy businessman and Managing Director of Malganga Milk and Agro Products Pvt Ltd, who is one of the accused in the case. His lawyer, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, argued that a politically hostile atmosphere prevailed in Andhra Pradesh, with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister making continuing political statements about the case.
Why the court refused
The bench said it was not inclined to transfer the trial. It pointed out that the investigation had been carried out by a Special Investigation Team constituted by the Supreme Court itself, and that most of the witnesses and evidence were located in Andhra Pradesh. Moving the trial would affect the proceedings.
The Chief Justice said the court had already “silenced them all with our order” on the political statements, and the petitioners could approach the court again if any such issue arose.
What the case is about
The case concerns an alleged ₹250 crore scam: about 68 lakh kg of fake and synthetic ghee supplied to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) between 2019 and 2024, for use in making the famous Tirupati laddu prasadam.
The controversy erupted in September 2024, after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu alleged that animal fat had been used in the laddus during the previous YSRCP government. On 4 October 2024, the Supreme Court ordered an independent Special Investigation Team, under the supervision of the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, to probe the allegations.
The CBI-led SIT filed its final charge sheet before an Anti-Corruption Bureau court in Nellore on 23 January 2026. The charge sheet referred to findings of the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, which analysed four sealed ghee samples drawn by the TTD from tankers supplied in July 2024.
The Supreme Court’s power to transfer criminal cases between states comes from Section 446 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 406 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
The allegations against the accused remain to be tested at trial, and every accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Sources: Bar and Bench, 5 November 2026; IANS, 5 November 2026; The Hindu, 6 November 2026.
