The Supreme Court will on Monday take up three petitions seeking an independent probe by the CBI under the top court’s direct supervision into the finances of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust following allegations of misappropriation of donations at the Ram Temple, Ayodhya.
The PILs will come up for hearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana on July 13 when the top court reopens after the summer vacation.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused urgent listing of these petitions during the partial working days.
The first PIL, filed by Narendra Kumar Goswami, a petitioner-in-person, has sought a CBI probe into the matter and an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of the finances of the Trust, which manages the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
The second one by petitioners-in-person — advocates Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav — has also sought a fair and time-bound probe by a CBI-led multi-disciplinary SIT into allegations of misappropriation of donations at the temple. They want the SIT to investigate the alleged financial irregularities and other purported “illegalities” concerning the affairs and administration of the Trust.
Filed by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, the third PIL seeks transfer of the ongoing probe to the CBI under the top court’s direct supervision.
Citing an ongoing SIT probe and the reported recovery of Rs 77 lakh from the eight accused arrested in the case, the PIL filed by the RJD MP from Buxar submitted that it is of exceptional public importance to safeguard the administration of the Trust and protect the offerings made by millions of devotees.
The MP has sought a comprehensive forensic audit of all donations, transactions and assets of the Trust by an independent agency. The Trust should be directed to publish audited financial statements and donation records on its official website in the interests of public transparency, the PIL demanded.
The PIL has also sought directions to preserve all financial records, including physical documents, digital ledgers, UPI transaction logs and bank statements, to prevent any alleged tampering with evidence and an order restraining the Trust from undertaking major investments, entering into substantial contracts or taking significant financial decisions without the prior approval of the proposed oversight committee.
The MP wants the top court to appoint a temporary, court-monitored oversight committee comprising retired judicial officers and financial experts to oversee the Trust’s financial affairs during the pendency of the investigation.
Some other petitions seeking similar relief are pending before the Allahabad High Court.
On June 13, the Uttar Pradesh Government set up a three-member SIT at the request of the temple Trust to look into allegations of financial irregularities and misappropriation of donations.
The SIT, comprising Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police Kiran S and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan, submitted its preliminary report to the state government on June 23 following which an FIR was registered. Ayodhya DSP Ashutosh Tiwari is the lead investigating officer of the case.
The eight accused arrested in the case — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar, alias Tinnu Yadav — were associated with counting cash and valuables received as donations at the temple.