Pramod Nautiyal was arrested over alleged donation irregularities at Badrinath temple.
Police claim CCTV captured him allegedly removing cash and other offerings.
Multiple investigations, including an SIT and government panel, are underway.
Uttarakhand Police arrested Pramod Nautiyal, the main accused in the alleged mishandling of donations at Uttarakhand’s Badrinath temple, officials said on Monday.
Police took Nautiyal into custody on Sunday night and brought him to Badrinath for questioning, new agency PTI reported quoting senior superintendent of police (Chamoli) Surjit Singh Panwar.
Nautiyal served as the personal assistant to the chairman of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC), the statutory authority responsible for administering Badrinath temple and several other shrines in Uttarakhand.
He was suspended after an initial internal investigation flagged suspected irregularities in the handling of donations at Badrinath Dham. A four-member committee constituted by the BKTC later found the allegations against him to be prima facie true.
CCTV Footage Raised Suspicion
Uttarakhand Police had earlier said that CCTV footage from the temple’s donation-counting room allegedly showed Nautiyal hiding or removing cash, gold and silver coins, shaligram stones and envelopes containing offerings.
According to news agency ANI, investigators said the footage showed him repeatedly moving between the counting room and his office, prompting suspicion that the allegedly missing items may have been concealed there.
“The accused Pramod Nautiyal is seen suspiciously hiding or stealing bundles of Rs 500 and Rs 100 notes, along with gold and silver coins, shaligram stones, and envelopes of offerings estimated to contain Rs 10 to 12 thousand rupees. Furthermore, while doing so, he is seen going back and forth between his office and the counting room two to three times,” Uttarakhand Police said.
Police also said that the footage revealed Nautiyal hiding or stealing bundles of ₹500 and ₹100 notes, precious-metal coins, shaligram stones and offering envelopes believed to contain between ₹10,000 and ₹12,000 as per the report.
The Case
The alleged donation theft case came to light after suspected discrepancies were detected during the counting of donations offered by devotees at Badrinath temple on July 2.
A preliminary enquiry reportedly found that cash had been taken out of the counting room without following the required procedure.
The Uttarakhand government subsequently constituted a three-member committee to examine the allegations. The panel, headed by the Garhwal division commissioner, has been asked to submit its findings and recommendations to the state government.
The matter is now being examined simultaneously by the police, a Special Investigation Team, the BKTC’s departmental enquiry committee and the state-appointed high-level panel.
