The Ayodhya Bar Association on Monday refused to represent the accused persons in a case about the alleged embezzlement of donations made to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, The Hindu reported.
The president of the association, Kalika Prasad Mishra, warned that any lawyer representing the accused persons will be fined Rs 5 lakh.
A first information report has been filed against eight persons in the case, all of whom have been arrested. Those named in the FIR are Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava.
Kalika Prasad Mishra, the president of the bar association, said that a committee comprising 15 to 20 members has been formed to handle the prosecution’s case, ANI reported. He also noted that demands have been made that the Central Bureau of Investigation should look into the case.
“People are questioning the point of making offerings to the deity when a group of five individuals might simply misappropriate them,” Mishra was quoted as saying by ANI. “They argue that while the accused currently in jail have been formally charged, there are others, far more culpable, who remain implicated.”
The chief of the bar association said that the alleged misappropriation could not have taken place without the knowledge of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai, trustee Anil Mishra and temple construction in-charge Gopal Rao. Rai and Anil Mishra resigned from their posts on “moral grounds” on June 26.
The FIR in the case was filed on a complaint by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which manages the temple. It invoked provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to theft by a clerk or servant, criminal breach of trust, stolen property and criminal conspiracy.
Opposition leaders have claimed that cash and jewellery offerings made by devotees had been embezzled by temple staffers under the trust’s watch. They have also alleged that Rai, Anil Mishra and Rao are being protected by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Ram temple 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.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!