Several people fall prey to Rs.100 crore ‘Donkey Milk’ scam across India

The milk business, according to the victims, seemed legitimate as “The Donkey Palace”, an organization in Mukkudal in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, was launched by the district collector in 2022

Hyderabad: In an era of cyber crimes, including digital arrests, online job frauds, a unique and unusual scam of Rs.100 crore allegedly involving donkey milk has come to the fore on Friday.

Several educated people and farmers from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have fallen prey to the donkey milk business with “fraudsters” offering good returns for investing in the donkey farms before disappearing, leaving hundreds of people in financial ruin.

---

The milk business, according to the victims, seemed legitimate as “The Donkey Palace”, an organization in Mukkudal in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, was launched by the district collector in 2022.

After the launch the organization owner – Babu Ulaganadam, along with marketing persons, posing as legitimate entrepreneurs, lured farmers and others into investing in the donkey milk business by establishing farms through the franchise system, offering Rs.1,600 per litre of the milk.

They supplied donkeys costing Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh depending on the milk quantity it produced.

Everything seemed legitimate for the people as the organization owners conducted training with a veterinarian on how to rear donkeys before becoming involved in the donkey farm franchise.

A software engineer Ravindra, one of the victims, said that the training was on maintaining donkeys, hygienic milk and health measures among others.

“For a two hour training session by one veterinarian Ramesh Kumar from Gujarat , we were asked to pay Rs.50,000,” he said.

Following the training the victims were asked to take up a franchise with an investment of Rs.5.50 lakh.

“Along with two other friends, I invested Rs.56 lakh for franchise and purchasing donkeys each costing about for the farm in 2023,” said Sai Babu

After procuring milk, the scammers initially paid money to a few people for three months, building trust and encouraging more investments besides handing over cheques.

However, once the victims were completely into the business, the fraudsters stopped payments. Those who contacted the owners were intimidated and threatened.

“Only a few people were initially paid. The milk was being procured till January this year but the money was not paid since the beginning of the franchise ,” said Ravindra, who later realized it was a scam.

“Every now and then Babu used to threaten us in the WhatsApp groups with severe consequences if we ask for our money to be returned. Babu Ulaganadam has a lot of political influence in Tamil Nadu and has been using it,” Sai Babu said.

Since, the victims were from different states they urged the State government to register a common FIR and take up investigation and ensure justice to them.