The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged donation theft at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has given a clean chit to the Trust’s former general secretary, Champat Rai. The SIT has also cleared the name of Anil Mishra, a former member of the Trust. Both Rai and Mishra had resigned from their positions at the Trust that manages the Ayodhya Ram Mandir after allegations of donation theft surfaced.
The Uttar Pradesh Home Department on Monday handed over the Special Investigation Team’s final report in the Ayodhya Ram Temple donation theft case to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for further action. Rai and Mishra had resigned from the Trust on June 27 after the theft allegations surfaced. They were both then questioned by the SIT on the process of donation management at the temple.
According to sources, during interrogation, Champat Rai denied any role in the donation theft at the temple, adding that it was on his complaint that the suspects were arrested. Rai, according to sources, also told the police that it was his responsibility to ensure that no irregularities occurred in donation collection and that he acted as soon as he got wind of the wrongdoing.
The three-member SIT, headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, was constituted by the state government on June 13 at the request of the Trust, before the Supreme Court intervened in the matter. Range Inspector General Kiran S and Special Secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan Kumar are the other members.
The panel had submitted its preliminary report to the state government on June 23, making several stringent recommendations. Based on the preliminary report, Trust member Krishnamohan filed a written complaint at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi police station, following which an FIR was registered in the case on June 25.
The FIR named eight people – Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu – and other unidentified individuals as accused. All of them have been arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The preliminary report had also formed the basis for subsequent FIRs and arrest-related action in the case.
On August 17, the Supreme Court refused to order disclosure of the SIT report, stating that it would first peruse the report before deciding whether to release it to all parties. The bench directed that the SIT report be submitted within three weeks in a sealed cover. “The SIT is constituted by us. It is answerable and accountable to us. It will have to report to us. The SIT, which includes a forensic auditor, will submit its status report to the Supreme Court in sealed cover. But its report will be first perused by us and seen if we have to release it to all parties,” CJI Surya Kant observed.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has cited the SIT’s preliminary report, saying it found no involvement of any saint or seer in the donation theft case. He said that the preliminary report had clearly stated that no sadhu or saint was involved in the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple.
The allegations of embezzlement of Ram temple donations have led to scrutiny of the Trust’s financial management. Eight accused have been arrested in the case, while three officials, including the Trust’s former general secretary Champat Rai, had stepped down from their posts on moral grounds. The SIT was reconstituted with three senior IPS officers to expedite the investigation.
For the Ram Temple Trust, the SIT’s clean chit to Champat Rai and Anil Mishra closes one chapter of the donation theft row, even as the focus now shifts to ensuring tighter controls, transparent accounting and swift accountability for those found guilty of betraying the faith of millions of devotees.
