Ayodhya (UP): The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged Ram temple fund embezzlement case questioned dozens of people on Tuesday, sources said.
The SIT, which had spent around 8 hours in the Ram temple complex a day ago, continued the investigation from 10 am on Tuesday.
The team questioned more than a dozen people associated with the temple’s management, including senior Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust official Gopal Rao and some prominent others with direct access to the temple premises, sources said.
There has been no confirmation yet of any conversation between the SIT members and the Trust’s general secretary Champat Rai.
Following a request from the Trust, the Uttar Pradesh government on June 13 constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations related to theft of donation money at the Ayodhya Ram temple as well as the Trust’s financial management.
According to the government, the Trust has sought an impartial inquiry to establish facts, and counter “misinformation” and “attempts to tarnish the image of the Ram temple”.
The SIT comprises Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police Kiran S, and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan.
Meanwhile, Ram Shankar alias Tinnu Yadav, a prominent name emerging in the fund embezzlement case, told a section of the media on Tuesday that the implication of his involvement in the matter was baseless and he was innocent.
Tinnu Yadav denied that he had anything to do with the room in which the cash was counted, and some others were in charge of it.
Santosh Dubey, a prominent Hindu leader in Ayodhya, who was a former Kar Sevak and was a main accused along with BJP leader L K Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case, filed a complaint at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station on Tuesday.
Dubey’s complaint named a senior Trust official as accused in the alleged donation theft.
Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress Vice-President Sharad Shukla also filed a similar complaint at the same police station on Tuesday.
Amid the controversy surrounding the donation theft, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh has accused the Trust’s general secretary Champat Rai of purchasing land worth Rs 24 crore.
Posting a photo of the land papers on X, the AAP leader has alleged that Rai bought Rs 3 crore worth of Nazul land for Rs 24 crore.
The fund embezzlement row erupted on June 7, when Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav cited reports to claim that crores of rupees from donations offered at the Ram temple were missing and urged the courts to take cognisance of the matter.
