Ram temple of Ayodhya is the center of faith of crores of devotees, but now the questions raised regarding the offerings in this temple have created a stir in the political and religious world of the country. There are allegations that there was a disturbance in the donations worth crores of rupees offered in the donation box of Ram temple. If the opposition is raising questions Ram Mandir The trust is rejecting the allegations, while there are talks of an investigation and audit. After all, what is the whole matter? How did this controversy start? What claims are being made?
After the consecration of Ram Lalla on 22 January 2024, lakhs of devotees from India and abroad are coming to Ayodhya every day to have darshan of Ram Lalla. Cash donations, gold, silver and other valuables are also being offered in large quantities by the devotees. Its accounting is done by the people of the trust and an agency nominated by SBI. Recently, questions started being raised regarding the offerings at Ram temple. It was alleged that some serious irregularities had come to light during the counting of offerings.
Secret revealed by counting of offerings worth Rs 3 crore
Earlier this month, the trust officials came to know about the missing donation money when a donor donated an amount of about Rs 3 crore to Ram Lalla. The allegation is that when the donation amount of Rs 3 crore was counted, some amount was found less. After this, the trust officials were informed about the missing donated money. Sources say that there was an altercation between two officials regarding this matter.
After this, information about this entire matter was given to the government level officials. After this, a team from Lucknow hurriedly reached Ayodhya on June 7 and held a meeting with the officials of the Trust in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex till late night. The matter was confidential till this meeting. By evening the local SP leaders got wind of this. He took the entire matter to his national president Akhilesh Yadav.
Akhilesh made allegations by tweeting
This controversy got political color when Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav, while posting on social media platform X on June 7, raised questions regarding the amount of offerings in Ram Temple. Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the situation regarding the accounting of crores of rupees offered in the temple is not clear and the entire matter should be investigated impartially. After his post this issue became a topic of national debate.
Doubt on some employees related to counting
As the controversy escalated, many media reports started appearing. It was claimed in these reports that during the calculation of the amount deposited in the donation box, a difference of about Rs 1.5 crore was allegedly revealed. Some reports also said that suspicion was raised on some employees involved in the counting process and they were interrogated. However, these claims have not been confirmed and official information regarding the investigation has been limited.
Rs 5 lakh found in an employee’s account
Some media reports claimed that the police interrogated half a dozen people who looked after the money offered. During the investigation, Rs 5 lakh was deposited back from the bank account of an employee into the trust account. However, Ayodhya Police is avoiding making any statements. He says that we did not receive any complaint in this matter. Sources say that the matter is being investigated by the police and many people have been detained.
Champat Rai denies Akhilesh’s allegation
Amidst the allegations of rigging in the offerings of Ram temple, a clarification came from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. General Secretary of the Trust, Champat Rai, said that there is a regular audit of the income and donation amount of the temple, in which the people of the Trust and representatives of SBI are present. Champat Rai clarified that till now no major embezzlement or misappropriation has been confirmed in the audit, all financial processes are conducted as per the prescribed rules and full care is taken of transparency.
Nripendra Mishra suddenly reached Ayodhya
The matter gained further momentum when Ram Mandir Construction Committee Chairman Nripendra Mishra suddenly reached Ayodhya. Interestingly, his already proposed review meeting was to be held on June 13, but amid the controversy, he changed the program and immediately reached Ayodhya. Sources say that after reaching Ayodhya, Nripendra Mishra held a long meeting with trust officials, bank officials and administrative officials. This went on for several hours.
Piyush Goyal said- No one trusts Akhilesh
However, while leaving, Nripendra Mishra refused to talk to the media and only said that his visit is to review the temple construction works. Quoting sources, it was also discussed that RSS along with the central and state governments are keeping an eye on the entire matter. In this matter, Union Minister Piyush Goyal took Akhilesh Yadav to task and said that neither the people of UP take him seriously nor does anyone trust him.
Akhilesh again made allegations
Meanwhile, the opposition continued to be the attacker. Akhilesh Yadav said through several posts that the situation is not being completely clarified by the Trust. He raised the question that if everything is transparent then why are the news of investigation and inquiry coming out. On the other hand, BJP termed the opposition’s allegations as politically motivated. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that Ram temple is the center of faith of crores of people and it is not appropriate to make allegations without proof. He accused the opposition of doing anti-Sanatan politics.
Trustee Mahant said – Ram ji will punish
However, no formal public statement came out from the government in this regard. Meanwhile, a statement of Mahant Dinendra Das, trustee of Ram Mandir Trust, came into discussion. He said, ‘We have faith in Ram ji’s tradition… Whatever happens in it, Ram ji himself will judge it… Ram ji will punish him.’ After this statement came out, the controversy regarding offerings gained further strength.
The successor of the Trust Chairman said – investigation should be done
Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, successor of Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, President of Ram Mandir Trust, also reacted. He said that he did not have detailed information about the allegations, but if there was any kind of irregularity then it should be investigated impartially. He also said that whoever is found guilty should be punished, the one who had no place to ride his bicycle, today big buildings have been built. There should be an investigation as to where the money came from.
Mahant Kamal Nayan Das said, whoever is found guilty should be punished. There should be an investigation and the culprits should be punished. Without naming anyone, Mahant Kamal Nayan Das said that there are many people in the society whose financial condition was ordinary earlier, but today they have big properties and buildings. He said that it should also be a matter of investigation as to where this property came from.
The heir demanded a judicial inquiry
Mahant Kamal Nayan Das also raised the demand for judicial inquiry. He says that the image of Ram Temple and Sant Samaj is being affected due to continuous allegations, hence a fair and transparent investigation should be conducted into the entire matter so that the truth can come out. He also said that this issue will be discussed with the Sant Samaj during the birth anniversary program of Mahant Nritya Gopal Das starting from 19th and if necessary, the Chief Minister will also be met.
The former accounting in-charge of the temple also made allegations
Mahipal Singh, who claims to be the former accounts in-charge of the temple, alleges, ‘Theft in the temple was not a new thing, it used to happen daily. I myself had caught the theft. I had complained about it to Champat Rai and Gopal ji. The very next day Champat Rai removed me. 8 months old footage of CCTV cameras installed in the temple was deleted. Champat Rai is a person who likes chaos. They run the arrangements of the temple complex as per their wish. If anyone protests, he is removed.
Questions regarding CCTV installed in the temple premises
The biggest question being raised in the entire matter is regarding CCTV surveillance. Ram Mandir complex is equipped with state-of-the-art CCTV and AI based cameras. The monitoring and counting process of donations also takes place under the ambit of cameras. In such a situation, the question being raised is that if there was any irregularity then how was it not visible in the cameras and if there was any technical flaw then whose responsibility is it.
What did Shankaracharya and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh say?
Meanwhile, Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand said in Etah on Thursday, ‘Theft has been happening in the Ram temple since the time of Sheela puja. How many allegations have been made, when the temple started being built, the plots started being sold. Plots would be worth crores in just two minutes. Champat Rai is already sitting there. Champat means to run away with it. Earlier, former Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had said that if I tell the truth, I will be in trouble.
The truth will be revealed after checking the bank accounts of employees.
On the condition of anonymity, a person close to the trust informed TV9 that if the income of the employees counting the donations in the trust is investigated, then there can be bigger revelations in this matter. If the bank accounts of all these employees for two to three years are investigated, then the figures of fraud can be shocking. At present, a confidential police investigation is going on in this matter, but everything is still unofficial.
Vinay Katiyar also reached Ayodhya
Meanwhile, Vinay Katiyar, BJP leader associated with the Ram Mandir movement and founder of Bajrang Dal, has reached Ayodhya from Lucknow. He said, ‘The truth of the allegations that are coming forward should be revealed. Therefore investigation is necessary. When the matter is related to the faith and trust of crores of people, then transparency is most important. Only when the investigation is done the real situation will become clear. I have come to get information about this.
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