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NEW DELHI: Virtually taking over supervision of the ongoing investigations into Ayodhya Ram mandir donation embezzlement controversy, Supreme Court on Monday asked the UP govt-constituted Special Investigation Team to submit its probe status report within a week.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana entertained four PILs which have sought independent and time-bound investigations into huge amounts donated by devotees being siphoned off, and audit of temple accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Supreme Court seeks replies of Centre, UP government, Ram temple trust
Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, UP govt and Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on temple donation embezzlement controversy.The bench said since an FIR has already been registered by the SIT constituted by UP govt, “We direct the SIT to submit a probe status report to the court”. The bench posted further hearing on July 20. UP govt had set up the SIT on June 13 following a complaint from the temple trust after allegations of misappropriation of temple donations went viral.The petitioners have also sought direction to Centre, UP govt and the trust to incorporate mandatory regulatory and supervisory audit mechanism in its functioning to ensure donations are neither siphoned off nor embezzled by unscrupulous elements, which hurt the sentiments of millions of devotees. The three-member SIT, comprising Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, IG Kiran S and special secretary (finance) Neel Ratan, has so far arrested eight accused, who are in judicial custody.The investigation reportedly found around 70 suspicious incidents between April 27 and June 5 after reviewing CCTV footage in which staff counting the money were seen concealing bundles of cash on their person.Following the controversy, trust general secretary Champat Rai and member Anil Mishra have stepped down. Their resignations were accepted by the trust on July 6. However, political parties such as Samajwadi Party and AAP have accused the UP govt of shielding the ‘big fish’.While petitioners Narendra Kumar Goswami, Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav sought CBI probe and audit of temple finances by CAG, Goswami sought safekeeping of electronic evidence, including CCTV footage.The third PIL by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh sought forensic audit of the finances of the temple, managed by the trust. Another PIL by Hindu Dharma Parishad has also sought similar reliefs.
