UP govt forms SIT to probe allegations of ‘missing donations’ at Ram Mandir

Lucknow: Following the directions of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged irregularities of monetary offerings made at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

According to sources, the SIT comprises Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police (IG) for the Lucknow Range Kiran S, and UP Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan. The team has been reportedly directed to submit a preliminary report within seven days and a final report within 15 days.

A controversy erupted following Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s allegation that crores of rupees have been found missing from the offerings made at the Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. He sought judicial intervention in the matter.

In a post on social media platform X, Yadav said: “This is an extremely sensitive piece of news for devotees of Lord Ram across the entire world: crores of rupees in offerings to the ‘Ram Mandir’ have been found missing.”

He had called the incident “utterly shameful” for the temple trust.

Notably, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had requested a comprehensive investigation by an SIT.

According to a trust spokesperson, the trust had appealed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for an SIT probe, stating that misleading information and rumours were being spread about the incident, creating confusion among devotees. The trust said that various inaccurate claims circulating on social media warranted an impartial and detailed investigation so that the facts could be placed before the public and speculation could be put to rest.

Meanwhile, Prakash Gupta, the in-charge of the temple trust camp office, did not rule out the “miscalculation” of donations.

Talking to IANS, he said: “No money is accepted at the donation counters without issuing a receipt. The money offered in temples was kept in donation boxes and was counted within the temple premises itself. Bank employees used to come for this counting process, and one representative from the trust would also be present to supervise it.”

“Since the bank employees were involved, the irregularities could not be caught, and they kept on doing this. The supervisors were not aware that irregularities of this scale could be carried out,” he said.

He further stated that the alleged irregularities could not have taken place at the donation counters since money was not collected there without receipts. “This miscalculation might have taken place in the counting of money offered in the temple’s donation boxes,” he said.

IANS