Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust accepted the resignations of its general secretary Champat Rai and member Anil Mishra during a meeting held in Ayodhya on Monday amid the ongoing investigation into theft of temple offerings. Whereas trustee Krishna Mohan has been named interim general secretary. Trust Treasurer Govind Dev Giri said that in the meeting that lasted for more than 3 hours, it was also decided to hand over the additional responsibility of General Secretary to member Krishna Mohan as an interim arrangement.
Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Monday announced a three-member committee to select suitable candidates for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Trust. Let us know the answers to 20 questions related to the meeting of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and theft of offerings…
Treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Govind Dev Giri, while defending former general secretary Champat Rai in the case of alleged embezzlement of offerings in the Ram temple, said that Champat Rai was betrayed by the people on whom he had trusted. Govind Dev Giri said that no member of the trust betrayed. Rather Champat Rai was betrayed. We consider him a very gentlemanly person. But he trusted the wrong people and kept them with him for years. The same people betrayed the trust.
However, Giri admitted that there was serious negligence on the part of Champat Rai and Anil Mishra in monitoring the management of the offering. He said, this is absolutely correct. Their negligence and lack of adequate monitoring for such a long time is a serious matter. This should not have happened.
Treasurer Govind Dev Giri said that the Trust displayed in front of the media many valuable items offered in the temple, which were earlier alleged to have been stolen. Giri said that a register of 2,800 items has been prepared. The five items in question, which included a manuscript of Ramcharitmanas and a beautiful necklace offered to God, were displayed before the media. Records of all these items are available and authorized persons can inspect them.
Trust treasurer Govind Dev Giri admitted that the offerings had been stolen, but the investigating agencies would determine its quantity and the people responsible for it. He said, it is true that theft has taken place, but how big it was and who is responsible for it, the investigating agencies will find out.
Asked about allegations of allegedly taking money for providing VIP darshan at the temple, he said he had heard such allegations but could not confirm any specific case. He said that I cannot say that this never happened. I have not come across any specific names, but I have heard such allegations and they seem credible to me.
Responding to a question, trust treasurer Govind Dev Giri said, we appointed a three-member committee of Justice (retd) Pradeep Kohli, Lieutenant General (retd) Vishnukant Chaturvedi and Suresh Haware (former chairman of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust). This committee will interview the candidates and give us three names to choose from.
On the questions being raised on the resignation, the Treasurer said that the Trust has no discretion in this matter because senior trustee K. Parasaran said that under the Trust's constitution, once the resignation is submitted, it becomes effective, leaving the Trust with no option but to accept it. He said, once the resignation was submitted, the decision to accept or reject it was no longer in our hands. We just had to accept it. According to the rules, his resignation has been automatically accepted.
Trust Treasurer Govind Dev Giri said that as an interim arrangement, it has also been decided to hand over the additional responsibility of General Secretary to member Krishna Mohan. He said Krishna Mohan, who has been appointed interim general secretary, will be free to choose a team to assist him and monitor measures aimed at strengthening transparency and administrative systems.
Govind Dev Giri said the trust will meet again on July 22, by which time it hopes the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged embezzlement will submit its final report. He said that the report along with the appointment of additional trustees will be discussed in the meeting.
Giri said the Trust wants all those involved in the alleged theft, including the key conspirators, to be identified and punished. He warned against attempts to use this controversy to defame the temple trust and create division among devotees. Appealing to devotees not to be misled by 'false publicity', he said that if anyone has doubts about the donated items, he can contact the trust office for verification.
Interim General Secretary Krishna Mohan said after the meeting that whoever is found guilty will get appropriate punishment. He said that all the trustees will work to restore the trust of the people and manage the offerings made by the devotees as per the objectives of the Ram Temple Trust.
This meeting started inside the Ram Janmabhoomi temple complex on Monday afternoon at around 3.15 pm, in which seven out of nine permanent members of the trust participated. This meeting ended at around 6:30 in the evening. The meeting was called to discuss the resignations tendered by Champat Rai and Anil Mishra following allegations of embezzlement of temple offerings, to review the progress of the SIT investigation into the case and to discuss appointments to key posts in the trust if the resignations are accepted.
An SIT formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe alleged theft of temple offerings had submitted its preliminary report last month, following which an FIR was registered and eight accused were arrested. The investigators have also recovered deleted CCTV footage, in which some of the accused are seen allegedly hiding the currency notes while leaving the temple premises.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the case of alleged theft and embezzlement of offerings in the Ram temple, has found in its preliminary investigation that there have been several instances of alleged hiding of cash by employees while counting the offerings. The SIT has also pointed out serious flaws in the security arrangements and surveillance system. The preliminary investigation report of the SIT has been handed over to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
According to preliminary reports, CCTV footage from April 27 to June 5 showed employees allegedly hiding wads of currency notes and loose cash in their clothes, pockets, shoes and other places inside the counting room on several occasions. About 70 such suspicious incidents have been mentioned in the report. According to the SIT, these irregularities were not isolated incidents, but appear to be a well-planned and repeated process over several days.
The investigation team found that the prescribed security protocols were not followed in the counting room. Employees were not searched at the time of entry and exit, their personal belongings were not adequately controlled, cash from several donation boxes was counted together and there were serious deficiencies in the recording and verification of valuable offerings.
Taking the names of Avinash Shukla, Anukul Mishra, Luv Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey and Ram Shankar Mishra in the report, it has been said that prima facie their involvement has come to light. A total of eight people, including all these accused, have already been arrested. According to the report, before the investigation started, about Rs 78.94 lakh was recovered from some employees. The report also mentions that around Rs 2.25 lakh was recovered from the counting room on June 4.
The SIT said that in the investigation of bank accounts of the concerned employees, cash deposits and financial transactions were found in excess of their declared income, in view of which a detailed financial investigation is required.
Questions have also been raised in the report on the monitoring system of the trust. It said the alleged theft and embezzlement were possible due to serious deficiencies in security arrangements, CCTV surveillance, adherence to standard operating procedure (SOP), frisking and supervision of staff.
On July 1, the Uttar Pradesh government had extended the tenure of the SIT by 15 days. The SIT was formed on June 13 to investigate allegations of alleged theft and embezzlement during counting of offerings at the Ram temple.
This controversy started on June 7, when Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav had accused him of embezzlement of offerings in Ram temple. At that time Champat Rai had rejected these allegations and said that no significant irregularities were revealed during the internal audit.
