A view of The Mandya Milk Union Limited (MANMUL) at Gejjalagere in Mandya district.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Eight persons, including the former Chairman of Mandya Milk Union Limited (Manmul) U.C. Shivakumar, have been arrested by the Mandya district police in the alleged milk powder scam estimated to be worth around ₹3 crore.
The arrests followed a complaint lodged at Maddur police station on August 30, 2026, by Ashwini, the Assistant Manager of Quality Assurance Department in Manmul, Gejjalagere, about not only shortage in the Union’s milk powder stock but also its adulteration, while seeking action against the accused Manmul employees.
Maddur police registered the case under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and took up investigation.
Superintendent of Mandya district police V.J. Shobharani said the main accused in the case Pradeep Kumar Jadhav, 44, who works as Purchase Officer at Manmul, had allegedly connived with Shivakumar, the former Chairman and present Director of Manmul, to clandestinely divert skimmed milk powder and sell it to private individuals.
Sharing the details, Ms. Shobharani said the interrogation of Mr. Jadhav revealed that bags of skimmed milk powder produced at the Manmul’s production unit were allegedly secretly loaded into vehicles used for transportation.
The bags were allegedly transported to a godown in the Gejjalagere Industrial Area and sold to private individuals. The proceeds of the sale were reportedly shared among the accused persons.
Internal audit
When Manmul suspected smuggling of the milk powder, an internal audit was conducted which revealed a shortage of 110.4 tonnes of milk powder stock.
In an effort to reconcile the stock, the accused had allegedly brought 54.9 tonnes of milk powder bags and repackaged them. A shortage of the remaining 55.5 tonnes of milk powder was found in the stock, Ms. Shobharani said.
With one kg of skimmed milk powder costing around ₹300 per kg, the corresponding loss to Manmul is estimated to be more than ₹3 crore as 1.1 lakh kg of milk powder is involved.
The accused
Apart from Mr. Shivakumar and Mr. Jadhav, the arrested also include Ms. Shruthi, 32, a system operator at Manmul, Ravi, 37, a worker at the godown, Srinivasa R.S., 44, loader and unloader of milk powder bags, Srinivasamurthy, 49, former head of milk powder production unit at Manmul, Suresh V.K., 51, proprietor of VKS Marketing in Kozhikode in Kerala, and Suresh U.G., 37, a contractor at Manmul.
While one more accused, Nideesh Kumar, 50, a resident of Kozhikode in Kerala, died on September 7, 2026, due to a heart attack, another accused T Sriramakrishna, who is the Deputy Manager and Head of Milk Powder unit at Manmul is absconding, according to the police.
Published – October 06, 2026 05:57 pm IST
