The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to appoint a financial fraud auditor as the fifth member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the Ayodhya Ram temple donation irregularities case.
The Uttar Pradesh government had constituted a 4-member SIT headed by the Director General of Police (IGP) Kiran. Following this, the Supreme Court also directed that a status report be submitted within the next 2 weeks.
Allegations that irregularities had taken place in the donations and offerings made by devotees to the Ayodhya Ram temple sparked a major controversy. The SIT set up in this regard and the police are conducting an intensive investigation.
In this matter, Narendra Kumar Goswami, Ajay Kumar Rai, and Dinesh Kumar Yadav, along with Rashtriya Janata MP Sudhakar Singh, separately filed three petitions in the Supreme Court seeking a Supreme Court-monitored CBI investigation and an audit of the entire funds of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Where are the offerings?
These petitions were heard on Monday by a bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Jaymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
At that time, senior advocate Devdatt Kamath, appearing for one of the petitioners, said, “Lakhs of devotees made offerings to the Ram temple in amounts of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000. But it does not appear that these offerings reached the trust. If the trust has indeed received the offerings, it can publish that openly on its website. This will build trust among devotees.”
No politics in the courtroom
Following this, in the order issued by the bench of judges, it said, ‘We take note that an SIT has been constituted in the Ram temple matter. You have pointed out the difficulties prevailing in this. However, our main objective is to ensure a transparent investigation. A swift and fair investigation is what is needed at present. Do not politicize this matter. Courts are not a place for politics.
Since the SIT already has four members, the state government should add a financial fraud auditor as the fifth member. The SIT should file a status report on the investigation within 2 weeks,’ it was stated.
