Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has rejected the petition demanding CBI investigation in the case of alleged theft of offerings in Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple of Ayodhya. This petition demanding CBI investigation was filed on behalf of Mohit Ashok.
The Lucknow bench of the High Court rejected the petition after hearing on Monday. During the hearing, Additional Advocate General Vinod Shahi and Chief Standing Advocate Shailendra Singh, on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government, told the court that a petition related to the same subject is already pending in the Supreme Court. In such a situation, there is no justification for hearing the same issue before the High Court.
After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the division bench of Justice Rajan Rai and Justice Manjeev Shukla rejected the petition demanding a CBI investigation.
Before this, a case related to CBI investigation of donation theft is also in the Supreme Court. Last week on Friday, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Sudhakar Singh had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged theft of donations in the Ram Temple. Along with this, a demand was also made to direct the temple trust to present before the court detailed information about all types of donations received since its formation on February 5, 2020.
Besides, in the PIL filed in the Supreme Court, it was also said that there should be no interference in the religious practices or rituals of the temple. Instead, it calls for judicial intervention to ensure transparency and accountability in the secular financial administration of the Trust.
According to the petition, the reliefs sought are limited to the management of the financial affairs of the Trust and are aimed at safeguarding public donations and ensuring an independent investigation into the allegations. It has also been said that till the investigation, all financial records including physical documents, digital ledgers, UPI transaction logs and bank statements should be kept safe, so that the evidence cannot be tampered with in any way.
However, before this the Supreme Court refused to hear two petitions demanding a court-monitored investigation into the misuse of funds donated to the Ram Temple. These petitions were filed by Advocate Satyam Singh Rajput and Advocate Jaswanti A. Had filed.
