Shalabh@timesofindia.comLucknow/Ayodhya: After days of speculation, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust confirmed on Saturday that its general secretary Champat Rai and member Anil Mishra have resigned amid a raging controversy over the embezzlement of donation money received at the temple, with eight accused in the case now sent to jail.Trust treasurer Govind Giri Dev confirmed through a press release on Saturday that both Rai and Mishra, who was responsible for supervising the cash counting procedure, have sent their resignations to the trust. “Trust will take a decision on this issue in its next meeting,” Giri said.Giri, a renowned Vedic scholar, stressed that the trust was determined to get to the bottom of things and that the guilty won’t be spared, adding that attempts to defame Sanatan Dharm won’t succeed.Countering allegations, he also said that the ornaments, jewellery items and valuables such as gold and silver bricks are kept safely and details of all such items have been maintained in logbooks.“We are shocked, hurt and deeply saddened by the incidents that have come to light in the past few days at Shri Ram Temple. As representatives of all Ram devotees and those serving here, we are committed to ensuring a fair investigation and to reassuring the devotees,” his statement says.“Regarding the funds received from temple donation boxes, based on the interim report submitted by the SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh govt at the request of the trust, an FIR has been registered and legal proceedings are underway. We assure everyone that every effort will be made to ensure that such unfortunate situations do not arise in the future,” Giri adds.“We will insist that the culprits receive strict legal punishment as per law. Attempts by antisocial, irreligious, and selfish elements to defame Sanatan Dharm will not succeed. We request everyone to avoid spreading or believing in misleading and baseless rumours, and also to prevent others from falling prey to them,” Giri concludes.Reports about the resignation of the two office-bearers have been doing the rounds since Thursday. Sources told TOI that pressure started mounting on Rai and Mishra soon after an FIR was registered against the group of eight individuals involved with the cash counting process. An FIR was lodged by Krishna Mohan, another trust member, on Thursday at around 7:20 pm naming Rai’s long-time associate Tinnu Yadav, cash counting in charge Subhash Srivastava and six employees of the agency outsourced the counting work by the SBI.However, the duo remained tight-lipped and did not comment on the issue of their resignation. Even the Vishwa Hindu Parishad didn’t confirm the development.Allegations about donation theft at the temple surfaced on June 7 when SP’s former MLA Pawan Pandey raised the issue at a press conference in Ayodhya. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav amplified the allegations further. Trust general secy Champat Rai initially denied the allegations, but as the issue raised a storm, the trust requested the state govt to probe the allegations.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath set up an SIT on June 13, which submitted its interim report after a week spotting flaws in the system and recommending large-scale structural changes in the donation handling process.
