The Vishva Hindu Parishad has called for a first information report to be registered and a police investigation launched into allegations of misappropriation of donations made to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.
The demand came after a Special Investigation Team submitted a preliminary probe report to the Uttar Pradesh government.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad is part of a group of Hindutva organisations led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Alok Kumar, the president of VHP International, told the newspaper that media reports about the probe team’s findings suggested that “there are enough grounds to file an FIR in the matter”.
He said that the investigation report indicated that security camera footage allegedly showed persons misappropriating money and that their identities had been established.
“So, no further fact-finding is required for lodging an FIR,” Kumar further told the newspaper. “An FIR should be lodged earlier, investigation should be expedited and a chargesheet filed, and the case should be heard on a day-to-day basis in a fast-track court.”
He added that persons responsible should face the maximum punishment and that devotees would not be satisfied until those found guilty were jailed.
Kumar also said that an internal inquiry alone would not be sufficient and that the truth would emerge only through a formal legal investigation, the Hindustan Times reported.
The Hindutva group’s demand came a day after the Special Investigation Team submitted its preliminary report to the state government. The contents of the report have not been made public.
However, unidentified persons aware of its contents told The Indian Express that the report highlights alleged lapses, inadequate supervision and negligence in the handling, maintenance and counting of donated cash and valuables.
The government said that the investigating team would continue its work and submit a final report after 15 days.
The team was set up by the state government on June 14 following a request from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, The Hindu reported. The trust manages the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Opposition leaders and a whistleblower have claimed that cash and jewellery offerings made by devotees had been embezzled by temple staffers under the trust’s watch.
The Ram temple in Ayodhya was built on the site of the Babri Masjid, which was demolished by Hindutva extremists on December 6, 1992, because they believed that it stood on the spot where the Hindu deity Ram was born.
In 2019, the Supreme Court held that the demolition of the Babri mosque was illegal, but handed over the land to a trust for a Ram temple to be constructed. At the same time, it directed that a five-acre plot in Ayodhya be allotted to Muslims for a mosque to be built.
The Ram temple was inaugurated in a ceremony led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2024.
Also read: In Ayodhya, it’s Sangh Parivar vs Sangh Parivar as Ram temple fund ‘theft’ charges blow up
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