Amidst the theft of offerings in Ayodhya, a land purchase case related to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is again in the news. This case is of March 2021, which is considered to be one of the oldest disputed land deals related to Ram Temple. Many aspects of this case have already been a part of public debate.
18 March 2021 Two registries on the same day raised big questions
According to the documents, in the first registry on March 18, 2021, land owner Kusum Pathak sold her land in the name of Sultan Ansari and Ravi Mohan Tiwari. In this first deal, the land price was recorded at only Rs 2 crore. But registry records show that the government circle rate of the same land was Rs 5 crore 79 lakh 84 thousand. This means that the declared sale price of the land was much lower than the government valuation.
About Rs 40 lakh 55 thousand stamp duty was deposited on the first registry and this document was registered in the Sub-Registrar Office Sadar, Ayodhya. Within a few hours, second registration and the price reached Rs 18 crore 50 lakh.
The biggest question arose from the second registry. That same day, shortly after, the same land was further sold in another deal. This time the name of General Secretary Champat Rai came forward from the Trust as the buyer. In the second deal on the same day, the price of the same land was recorded at Rs 18 crore 50 lakh.
That is, within a few hours the price of land went from Rs 2 crore to Rs 18.5 crore. There was a difference of about Rs 16 crore 50 lakh between the two deals, which gave rise to controversy. The same person was first the buyer, then after a few hours the seller, how did the Sultan know that this land would fetch crores of rupees in a few hours?
According to the documents, Sultan Ansari, who was the buyer in the first deal, emerged as the seller in the second deal. The signatures of Kusum Pathak, Sultan Ansari and Ravi Mohan Tiwari are said to be recorded on both the registry documents. Ravi Mohan Tiwari's palatial house was also completed after this deal. Earlier it was in lower middle class category.
The name of the trustee also appears as a witness in the second registry, after which this deal came into more discussion. Many serious questions are being raised on this entire deal.
This matter is not new. In 2021 also, opposition parties, especially Samajwadi Party, Congress and now Aam Aadmi Party had also raised questions regarding the land purchase process and transparency of Ram Mandir Trust and now again after the offering theft incident.
However, at that time the Trust had said that the land was purchased as per all the legal procedures and the price was decided keeping in mind the market conditions.
But now once again this old matter is in discussion and the questions are the same. Was everything as per the rules in this land purchase in the name of Ram temple or will new facts come to light in the investigation?
