Ayodhya Ram temple trust treasurer claims he had no role in collecting daily donations

The treasurer of the trust that manages the Ram temple at Ayodhya on Sunday claimed that he had no role in the daily donations collection process there, PTI reported.

Govind Dev Giri, the treasurer of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, made the assertion in the context of allegations about the embezzlement of donations made to the temple. The statement came a day before a key meeting of the trust, the first one since the controversy erupted.

Since the allegations first surfaced, a group of seers in Ayodhya has demanded that Giri’s role be investigated, contending that as the treasurer of the trust, he cannot be absolved of accountability.

Giri claimed on Sunday that the donations process had been overseen by local trustees, PTI reported. He said that all audit reports were safe and could be inspected by authorised persons.

The treasurer said that while maintaining accounts is his responsibility, because he travels often, chartered accountant associates from the trust’s Pune office go to Ayodhya in the last four to five days of every month to check the accounts and provide assistance to the trust’s office staff, India Today reported.

Giri further claimed that all trust expenditures are made directly through banks, and that he is not an authorised signatory for the transactions.

“We are neither for nor against anyone,” PTI quoted the treasurer as saying in the statement. “We stand with the truth and urge the investigators to bring the culprits to justice.”

Giri said that the alleged theft of donations made to the temple had “shattered the hearts of the devotees of Lord Ram”.

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.

However, several persons, including Opposition leaders and the president of the Ayodhya Bar Association, have claimed that the alleged misappropriation could not have taken place without the knowledge of the trust’s 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. 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.

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.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

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