- Ram Temple Committee Chairman Nripendra Mishra cited serious lapses.
- Bank failed responsibilities; counting lacked effective monitoring, personnel.
- Procedures, transparency, CCTV could have prevented alleged offerings theft.
Amid the investigation into the alleged theft of offerings from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, Ram Temple Construction Committee Chairman and former IAS officer Nripendra Mishra has said that devotees were betrayed and that serious lapses occurred in the system meant to safeguard donations.
Speaking to ABP News Political Editor Megha Prasad, Mishra alleged that the offerings were openly robbed and pointed to failures in oversight during the counting process.
‘Bank Failed To Fulfil Its Responsibilities’
Referring to the ongoing probe, Mishra said the evidence emerging so far suggests there was virtually no effective monitoring of the donation counting process.
According to him, the agreement between the temple trust and the bank clearly assigned responsibility for counting and accounting of donations to the bank.
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Mishra said preliminary findings indicate that the bank failed to discharge those responsibilities.
The former IAS officer also stated that the bank was supposed to deploy its own personnel in the counting room, but that requirement was allegedly not fulfilled. He added that the reasons behind this lapse would be examined by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
‘This Situation Could Have Been Avoided’
Mishra said that although he serves on the construction committee, he is also associated with the temple and therefore wanted to speak candidly on the issue.
He maintained that the alleged theft could have been prevented had established procedures been followed properly.
According to Mishra, the entire system should have functioned with complete transparency, with clearly defined accountability for everyone involved in the counting process.
He said checks on individuals entering and leaving the counting area were mandatory and the entire exercise should have remained under CCTV surveillance.
CCTV Footage Not Preserved
Addressing questions over missing surveillance footage, Mishra said the footage was not deliberately deleted but was removed through an auto-delete mechanism.
However, he noted that the footage could have been preserved if required, but that step was not taken.
Call For Better Administrative Oversight
Mishra said surveillance arrangements existed at two levels. Apart from the trust’s CCTV network, the police control room also had access to a monitoring system.
While acknowledging the challenges faced by the police, he said the monitoring infrastructure was in place.
The Ram Temple Construction Committee chairman attributed the issue to a severe lack of administrative management experience.
He added that he has openly recommended the immediate appointment of an experienced officer within the trust structure and stressed that such an officer should be given the freedom to function independently.
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