FIR filed over alleged irregularities in Ram temple donation money

New Delhi: Two days after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted its preliminary report on alleged irregularities in the donation money received at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra late on Thursday lodged an FIR with the Ayodhya police.

"Eight persons, including Anukalp, Teenu, Manish and Ram Shankar, have been named in the FIR" along with unknown persons, a senior Uttar Pradesh police officer said on condition of anonymity.

Ayodhya's senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gaurav Grover confirmed the registration of the FIR in the case without sharing details. "Out of the eight persons named in the FIR, six are directly involved in the counting of donation money," a second police officer said. One person tasked by the concerned bank to keep "a close eye on the counting of donation money" is also named, the person added.

The FIR was filed on a complaint registered by Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra.

The case has been registered under Sections 306 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 317 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), among other penal provisions.

Since there was allegedly no proper system for the selection of employees for different works at the Ram temple, including counting of donation money, the police now may investigate the named persons' links in the trust, one of the officers said. "One important aspect of the investigation is likely to be the links who helped the named persons for their selection for the task of counting of donation money."

The state government had constituted the Special Investigation Team on June 13 on the request from the temple trust, following allegations of irregularities in the donation money received at the Ayodhya Ram temple. The team submitted its preliminary report to additional chief secretary (home) Sanjay Prasad in a sealed envelope on Tuesday.

The SIT comprises Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, inspector general of police Kiran S and finance department special secretary Neel Ratan.