A three-member Special Investigation Team constituted to investigate the alleged misappropriation of donation funds at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya went to the temple complex on Monday as part of its probe.
Sources said the members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) entered the temple complex through Gate No. 11.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday constituted the three-member SIT to probe alleged embezzlement of donations in the Ram temple managed by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, officials said.
The SIT was constituted on the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath following a request from the Trust, which called it necessary to “check misinformation and bring out the truth”, alleging that attempts were being made to tarnish the image of the Ram temple.
The SIT comprises Vijay Vishwas Pant, Divisional Commissioner, Lucknow; Kiran S, IGP; and Neel Ratan, Special Secretary, Finance.
The Trust had urged the government to order a detailed investigation to establish the facts and dispel what it described as rumours circulating on social media.
According to the state government, the SIT would conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the matter and submit its findings to it.
Earlier on Monday, the chairperson of the Ram Temple Construction Committee, Nripendra Mishra, told reporters that there will be no laxity in the SIT probe.
“There are two aspects to the investigation – criminal and future improvement. We will be able to win the trust of the devotees only when both are addressed,” Mishra, who is camping in Ayodhya for the past three days, told reporters.
In a related development, Sharad Shukla, an office-bearer of the Uttar Pradesh chapter of Youth Congress, has put up a banner in Ayodhya that says whoever attempts to steal the property or wealth of the Ram temple will rot in hell as a worm for 60,000 years.
The banner also mentions a ‘shloka’ from the Skand Puraan that translates to “Lord Ram Lalla will do justice”.
The row surfaced on June 7, when Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said reports have emerged claiming that crores of rupees offered as donations at the Ram temple were missing, and urged the court to take cognisance of the matter.
Reacting to the allegations, the general secretary of the temple trust, Champat Rai, had said that internal audits were underway, and nothing that substantiated the charges had emerged so far.
