Sabarimala Milma Ghee Procurement Case: Vigilance Special Team Formed; M.J. Sojan to Lead Investigation
Kochi: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged irregularities in the procurement of ghee from Milma for the Sabarimala Mandala pilgrimage season. The development was communicated to the Kerala High Court by Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham on Tuesday.
Based on the list of officers submitted by the Vigilance Director, the High Court appointed Vigilance SP M.J. Sojan as the head of the SIT. The Division Bench of Justices V. Raja Vijayaraghavan and K.V. Jayakumar observed that Sojan was the appropriate officer to lead the probe since he is already heading the investigation into the alleged irregularities in the sale of surplus ("Aadiya Shishtam") ghee. Earlier, the Bench had directed the Vigilance Department to constitute a special team to investigate the allegations.
The five-member team, headed by SP M.J. Sojan, includes Vigilance DySP C.S. Hari as the Investigating Officer and Vigilance Inspectors Saji Shankar A.S., Sreejith S., Kiran T.R., and Ratheendra Kumar P.S. Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham has also directed that no additional officers should be included in the investigation team without his prior approval.
M.J. Sojan currently serves as the SP of the Vigilance Special Cell, Ernakulam. The Vigilance Director had also submitted the names of Southern Range SP Juvvanappudi Mahesh and Eastern Range SP R. Binu before the court.
According to the records presented before the court, a Tamil Nadu-based company that participated in the tender had offered to supply ghee at ₹369 per litre and had successfully completed quality tests. However, based on a letter from the Executive Officer stating that Milma's ghee was of superior quality, the Travancore Devaswom Board decided to purchase Milma ghee at ₹510 per litre.
The Executive Officer also informed the Board that only seven litres of Milma ghee would be required for each unit of Aravana prasadam, compared to the usual ten litres of regular ghee. Although the Devaswom Commissioner objected to the decision, citing the higher cost, then Board President P.S. Prashanth and Board member Ajikumar supported purchasing ghee from Milma and cancelled the other tenders.
A preliminary inquiry by the Devaswom Vigilance reportedly found that the procurement caused a loss of approximately ₹2.27 crore to the Travancore Devaswom Board.
The Vigilance officer also noted that official records do not clearly show whether quality tests were conducted after the ghee reached Sannidhanam. There are also doubts over whether the entire quantity of ghee was actually delivered to Sabarimala. Additionally, the inquiry examined Milma's procurement of ghee from a dairy in Pune.
Following these findings, the Kerala High Court directed the Vigilance Department to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a detailed probe into the alleged irregularities.
The Division Bench also directed the SIT not to disclose any details of the investigation to the public or the media. It further ordered the team to submit a progress report before the court within one month.
The state government had earlier ordered an investigation following allegations that the ghee supplied by the state-run dairy cooperative Milma to Sabarimala during the 2025–26 pilgrimage season was of inferior quality and that there were irregularities in the quantity supplied.