Supreme Court to hear Ayodhya Ram temple donation probe pleas on July 20
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on July 20 a batch of pleas seeking a fair and time-bound probe into the alleged embezzlement of
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on July 20 a batch of pleas seeking a fair and time-bound probe into the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. According to the court's cause list, four separate petitions on the issue will be taken up by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana. Read Full Story On July 13, the court agreed to hear the pleas and asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to look into the matter, to place a status report before it.
The bench also issued notice to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and sought its response. In its July 13 order, the court said, "Since it is averred in some of the writ petitions that some FIRs have already been registered and an SIT has been constituted to investigate the matter, we direct the SIT constituted by the State of Uttar Pradesh to submit a status report before this court." One of the petitioners, Narendra Kumar Goswami, has sought a CBI probe into the case. He has also asked for a Comptroller and Auditor General audit of the finances of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Theerth Kshetra Trust, which manages the affairs of the Ram temple.
Another plea, filed by Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav, has sought an investigation by a CBI-led multi-disciplinary SIT into the alleged financial irregularities and other purported illegalities linked to the affairs and administration of the temple trust. A third petition, filed by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, has sought a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe as well as a forensic audit of the trust's entire finances. A separate petition by Hindu Dharma Parishad has sought an apex court-monitored investigation into the allegations. The Uttar Pradesh government had constituted the SIT on June 13 on a request from the temple trust after allegations of misappropriation of donations received at the Ram temple.
The SIT comprises Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police Kiran S and Special Secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan. The court will now hear the batch of pleas on July 20 after receiving the SIT's status report and the trust's response. Ends
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