Two Tamil Nadu traders arrested over alleged diversion of 11,000 litres of Sabarimala ghee

Thiruvananthapuram: Two wholesale traders from Tamil Nadu’s Oddanchatram were arrested by the Keralam Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) for allegedly purchasing 11,000 litres of ghee diverted from official consignments meant for the Sabarimala temple during the 2025 pilgrimage season, officials said on Friday.

The ghee, supplied by the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), which markets its products under the brand name Milma, was allegedly diverted by a contractor and sold to the traders for around ₹50 lakh.

The two traders, Venkateswaran and Kumaran, have been accused of buying ghee allegedly diverted by a contractor from official Milma consignments meant for the Sabarimala temple during the 2025 pilgrimage season.

KCMMF had bagged the tender to supply ghee to the hill shrine located in Pathanamthitta district.

An official said that SS Binu, the contractor who was arrested last month, had diverted around 11,000 litres of ghee from the official KCMMF consignment meant for the temple and sold the stock to the two Tamil Nadu traders for around ₹50 lakh.

The traders were aware that the ghee was being diverted in violation of the contract stipulations and had agreed to the purchase, he added.

After diverting the stock of ghee, Binu had allegedly supplied a cheaper form of ghee to the temple, causing a loss of ₹2.5 crore to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which administers the temple.

Jayalal, a TDB employee who was deployed as a supervisor at the store in Sabarimala during the 2025 pilgrimage, was arrested earlier by the VACB for making false entries in the register in connection with the ghee supply.

Former TDB president PS Prasanth is among three persons earlier booked by the VACB in connection with irregularities in the procurement of ghee. The Kerala high court had ordered the VACB inquiry after the Sabarimala Special Commissioner brought to the court’s attention that standard tender procedures had been bypassed and raised concerns over the quality of ghee supplied by KCMMF.

The vigilance officer told the high court that TDB officials had abandoned an e-tender process to favour KCMMF, based on a recommendation by then administrative officer Murari Babu that its ghee was of superior quality and would require a lower quantity.