Lucknow, Jun 7 (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said reports have emerged claiming that crores of rupees from donations offered at the Ram Temple were missing and urged the court to take cognisance of the matter.

Reacting to the allegations, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai said internal audits are underway, and nothing that substantiates the allegation has emerged so far.

"The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra undergoes internal audits from time to time. Representatives of the trust and the State Bank of India are involved in this exercise. The audit process lasts for several days. The same work is being carried out these days. Nothing noteworthy has come to light yet," Rai said in a statement.

Mahant Dinendra Das, a member of the trust, said, "I have full faith in Lord Ram. If anybody has committed any wrong act, then Lord Ram will himself punish that person. Our trustees will not do such a thing." He added that any decision made by the government will be acceptable to them. "If there is any doubt, then conduct an inquiry." In a post on X, Yadav said the issue was "extremely sensitive" for devotees of Lord Ram and described the situation as "highly embarrassing" for the temple trust.

"It is very sensitive news for devotees of Lord Ram across the world that crores of rupees from donations made to the Ram Temple have been found missing," Yadav's post read in Hindi.

The SP chief also questioned the "silence" of the temple trust and the government over the issue.

"The government's silence is suspicious," Yadav said.

"This is an extremely shameful situation for the temple trust. No one is willing to come forward and offer an explanation," he added.

With the allegation, Yadav urged the court to intervene in the matter.

The court should take "suo motu cognisance because the issue is directly related to the profound faith that the Sanatani community across the world places in Lord Ram," he said.

Later, in another post on X, Yadav dismissed Rai's statement as ambiguous.

"The clarification itself lacks clarity. It seems this is a routine weekly affair for them, and so ordinary that they no longer even consider it 'noteworthy'. Their facial expressions and body language betray a sense of despair and hopelessness," he wrote.

The SP leader said all trust members should be brought together to provide an explanation, and CCTV footage should be utilised to cross-verify the figures.

Once all the trustees sit together, the truth will immediately come to light, as not everyone among them is not the same, he suggested.

"When no single individual is at the centre of the suspicion regarding this irregularity, what is the importance of the clarification from just one person.

"It should also be clarified why it took so many hours to issue a mere 40-second explanation, and why even speaking for a minute seems like such a burden. Much like the state government's silence, this clarification, too, is suspicious. It appears that the clarification is merely a verbal formality," he said.

"The global Sanatan community has been left even more apprehensive and hurt by this extremely weak clarification," the SP chief added. PTI ABN NAV COR VN VN

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)