FIR Lodged Over 'Embezzlement Of Donations' At Ram Temple

An FIR was lodged here on Thursday over allegations of embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple, officials said, with the Uttar Pradesh government reiterating Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's remarks of an impartial probe and that the guilty will not be spared.

The government said Lucknow Division Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, the lead member of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing this case, submitted a preliminary report to it on Tuesday, along with two other team members, containing "strong recommendations".

"Following this, the FIR was registered on Thursday," the government said in a late-night statement.

"Following the discovery of thefts from offerings made at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the trust requested a special investigation. On the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the matter. The chief minister had stated that the SIT's impartial investigation would bring the truth to light and that the guilty would not be spared," the UP government said in its statement.

The SIT, formed by Adityanath at the request of the Teerth Kshetra Trust, has made strong recommendations in its preliminary report. The accused are currently being interrogated, it added.

Prior to the government's statement, a senior officer told PTI that the SIT has made some "strong, strict" recommendations and that the chief minister is also "very serious" on the matter.

"Whosoever is found guilty would be sternly dealt with," the officer said, explaining the sequence of the events that led to the FIR.

The state government constituted the SIT on June 13 at the request of the temple trust, following allegations of misappropriation of donations received at the Ayodhya Ram temple.

The SIT comprises Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police Kiran S and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan.

The FIR was registered following a complaint of Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, officials said.

According to police, the case has been registered under Sections 306 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 317 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), among other penal provisions.

The officials said the FIR was lodged following recommendations made in the SIT's preliminary report.

An official said that no arrests have so far been made and that the accused are being questioned, while a detailed investigation is underway.

The official further informed that the accused named in the FIR are Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu, besides some unidentified persons.

Most of those named were involved with the donation-counting process, another official said.

The names of some of the accused in the FIR have been circulating on social media ever since Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav flagged the issue that has since become a raging political controversy.

Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, named in the FIR, is said to be a former driver of the trust's general secretary Champat Rai.

In his interaction with the media after the controversy broke out, Tinnu Yadav denied any role in cash counting and blamed some "jealous people", whom he, however, did not name.

Other named accused, such as Lavkush Mishra and Anukalp Mishra, were among those involved in the donation counting -- primarily cash and valuables.

PTI tried to contact senior trust officials, including Rai and Anil Mishra, for comments on the developments, but they were not immediately available.

The development came hours after the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) joined the growing demand for an FIR over the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Ram temple, even as senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, reached the temple town on Thursday evening, demanding that a case be lodged.