Ram Mandir Donation Theft: UP Govt-Appointed SIT Files Sealed-Cover Status Report Before Supreme Court
The status report was filed before a three-judge Bench headed by CJI Surya Kant in compliance with the Supreme Court's earlier direction after it took note of the ongoing SIT probe into the alleged theft and misappropriation of devotees' donations at Ayodhya's Ram Temple .
PIL filed before the Supreme Court concerning embezzlement of donations received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
The Uttar Pradesh Government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has filed its status report in a sealed cover before the Supreme Court, seeking an independent investigation into the alleged misappropriation and theft of Ayodhya Ram Mandir donations.
The report was submitted before a three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, pursuant to the Court's earlier direction requiring the SIT to place on record the progress of its investigation into the alleged theft and misappropriation of devotees' donations.
The Supreme Court had, on July 13, issued notice in a batch of petitions seeking an independent investigation into the alleged embezzlement of donations made to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya.
While hearing the petitions, the Bench had noted that multiple FIRs had already been registered in connection with the allegations and that the Uttar Pradesh Government had constituted an SIT to investigate the matter.
"Since some FIRs have already been registered and an SIT has been constituted to investigate... we direct the SIT to submit a status report. Post this matter for further consideration on next Monday," the Bench had ordered.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh, had informed the Court that the status report would be filed in a sealed cover as the investigation was underway.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had declined to urgently hear one of the petitions seeking registration of an FIR and a court-monitored investigation into the alleged embezzlement of donations collected by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
During the mention before a Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu, counsel for the petitioner had submitted that the allegations were serious and expressed apprehensions regarding the manner in which the investigation was being conducted.
The batch before the CJI-led Bench comprises three petitions.
One petition, filed by Advocates Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav, seeks directions for a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation into the alleged financial irregularities concerning the functioning and administration of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
The petitioners have sought registration of an FIR and constitution of a multi-disciplinary Special Investigation Team headed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), contending that an independent probe is necessary to inspire public confidence.
Another petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by Advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, seeks a forensic audit of donations made to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, preservation of all evidence relating to temple offerings, and the formulation of a nationwide transparency framework for handling donations received by temples of national importance.
The plea contends that offerings made by devotees constitute sacred trust property belonging to the deity, which has long been recognised in law as a juristic person.
A third Public Interest Litigation has been filed by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh through Advocate Satyam Singh Rajput and Advocate-on-Record Jaswanthi A.
The petition seeks transfer of the investigation to the CBI under the supervision of the Supreme Court, or such other independent mechanism as the Court may deem fit, besides directing the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to place before the Court a complete statement of all donations in cash and valuables received since its constitution on February 5, 2020.
The petitions were filed after an FIR was registered in connection with the alleged embezzlement of devotees' donations at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. Police subsequently arrested all eight persons named in the FIR, including the official responsible for cash counting at the temple's pilgrim facilitation centre.
According to the police, those arrested are Tinnu Yadav, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Karunesh Pandey and Ramshankar Mishra.
The accused have been booked for offences including criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Investigators suspect the alleged misappropriation occurred over a period of time through manipulation of the temple's donation collection process.
On July 13, the Allahabad High Court had disposed of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed seeking a court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged embezzlement of donation funds.
A local court in Ayodhya on July 17 granted 39 hours of police custody to two accused in the Ram Mandir Donations row case, allowing investigators additional time to question them over the alleged conspiracy and trace the money trail.
Case Titles: Narendra Kumar Goswami v. Union of India and others; Ajay Kumar Rai and another v. Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Theerth Kshetra Trust; Sudhakar Singh v. Union of India and others