Ahmedabad: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has filed an FIR with Ahmedabad Police’s cybercrime branch against a “misinformation campaign” aimed at defaming Amul. The campaign falsely claimed that Amul supplied ghee containing animal fat to the Tirupati Balaji temple.

Hemant Gauni, Deputy General Manager (Sales) at GCMMF, stated in his complaint that he traveled to Delhi on September 20. While at Ahmedabad airport around 6:30 PM, he was browsing the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) when he came across several posts claiming that ‘Amul’ had supplied ghee containing animal fat, which was allegedly used to make laddus at the Tirupati Balaji temple. Gauni said these social media posts were intended to defame and damage the reputation of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the parent organization of the Amul brand, by spreading false rumors.

The police have listed the X accounts ‘Spirit of Congress,’ ‘Banjara1991,’ ‘chandanAIPC,’ ‘SecularBengali,’ ‘rahul_1700,’ ‘profapm,’ and ‘prettypadmaja’ as accused in the FIR.

The accused Twitter users have been booked under Section 336(4), 196(1)(a) of the Bhartiya Nayay Sanhita and Section 67 of the IT Act.

DCP Cyber Crime Ahmedabad, Lavina Sinha said, “Yesterday, we received a complaint from the Amul employees and an FIR has been registered – as per the employee, people using fake social media account have spread this false information that the ghee used in Tirupati prasadam contain animal fat and Amul supply that ghee to the temple. “An FIR has been filed with Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police against the accounts that posted the viral tweets.”

Earlier, on September 20, Amul released a statement denying any involvement in supplying ghee to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), clarifying through a post on social media platform X that it had never provided Amul Ghee to the temple. The statement further emphasized that Amul Ghee is made from pure milk fat and undergoes stringent quality checks in its ISO-certified facilities, as mandated by the FSSAI.

The controversy arose after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu alleged that substandard ingredients, including beef fat, were used in the preparation of Tirupati laddus, a popular offering at the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, during the previous YSRCP government. DeshGujarat