After bail, 2021 Mysuru Hosahundi ghee gang resurfaces in Tamil Nadu
Mysuru/Bengaluru: A Mysuru couple, believed to be at the centre of a large-scale counterfeit Nandini ghee racket, has been arrested by Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Bengaluru.
The accused — Shivakumar, 45 and his wife Ramya, 40 — were taken into custody yesterday as part of the ongoing investigation that earlier saw a major breakthrough on Nov. 14, when CCB sleuths raided a Chamarajpet storage facility and seized 8,136 litres of fake Nandini ghee. That raid had led to arrest of four others, including distributor Mahendra, his son Deepak and another accused, Muniraju.
2021 Mysuru case link: Notably, some of the gang members were behind massive Nandini ghee adulteration racket unearthed at Hosahundi village, at the foot of Chamundi Hill, Mysuru, on Dec. 16, 2021.
There, racketeers were found using low-grade edible oils to adulterate ghee, packing it into counterfeit Nandini sachets and pushing it into the market. Officers had seized tonnes of adulterated ghee worth crores, along with bundles of fake labels, logos, stamps and seals.
A case was then registered by Mysuru South Police Inspector Shashikumar on the directions of the then SP R. Chethan. After securing bail, Shivakumar and his associates reportedly fled Mysuru and set up a similar illegal unit in Tamil Nadu.
New fake unit in Tamil Nadu: Investigators now state that the Mysuru couple were the masterminds, running a hi-tech illegal manufacturing unit in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, which produced and supplied the counterfeit batches, while Mahendra’s group handled distribution through wholesale and retail channels.
CCB DCP Sriharibabu said the manufacturing hub was traced to a clandestine facility in Tiruppur. “During searches, we located a fully equipped factory where high-tech machines were being used to produce, refill and label adulterated ghee under the Nandini brand,” he said. Samples from the site will undergo forensic testing to identify the substances mixed into the product.
Police have frozen about Rs. 60 lakh across bank accounts linked to the couple. “We have provisionally attached approximately Rs. 60 lakh, and further legal action will follow,” the CCB DCP Sriharibabu added.
Tracking consignments
He said investigators are now mapping the entire distribution chain. “Our priority is to identify all members of the supply network and assess how widely these counterfeit products were circulated,” he noted, adding that officers are probing whether consignments had moved outside Karnataka.
The investigation has now expanded to multiple districts, with evidence indicating that fake ghee had reached parlours, small shops, and retail outlets across the State.
On Nov. 14, the CCB arrested distributor Mahendra, his son Deepak, transportation supervisor Muniraju and driver Abhi Arasu on Nov. 14. During that raid, officers seized 8,136 litres of adulterated ghee worth Rs. 1.26 crore, four vehicles and large quantities of coconut and palm oil.
Investigators revealed that the accused produced three litres of adulterated ghee using just one litre of original ghee, which was then packed into sachets and bottles carrying the Nandini logo.
This post was published on November 27, 2025 6:45 pm