Now Reading: Ram temple trust bank accounts under SIT scrutiny for 2020-22
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Ram temple trust bank accounts under SIT scrutiny for 2020-22
A Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) visited Ayodhya on Tuesday and examined bank records of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust as part of a probe into alleged theft and misappropriation…
A Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) visited Ayodhya on Tuesday and examined bank records of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust as part of a probe into alleged theft and misappropriation of offerings at the Ram temple. The team, which includes a forensic auditor, has been reviewing documents at a State Bank of India branch for the past two days.
The scrutiny focuses on financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22, covering the period after the Trust was formed in 2020. Investigators are examining income, expenditure, deposits and withdrawals to establish the flow and utilisation of funds. They are also looking into transactions linked to a nationwide temple construction fund collection campaign that ran from January 15 to February 27, 2020.
Senior Trust functionaries, including interim general secretary Krishna Mohan, were present during the record examination. The SIT intends to compare bank transactions with the Trust's books of accounts and donation records. The probe follows an earlier SIT inquiry into alleged cash theft from the temple's counting room, which led to an FIR on June 25.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The SIT was constituted by the Supreme Court in 2019 to investigate criminal matters related to the Ayodhya land dispute verdict. Its mandate has now expanded to cover the Trust's financial operations during its formative years, when the massive construction fund drive was launched. The Trust raised hundreds of crores of rupees from public donations, making the audit critical. If discrepancies are found between bank records and internal accounts, the case could lead to charges of criminal breach of trust or misappropriation, which carry significant prison terms under the Indian Penal Code. The key question is whether the SIT will find systemic failures or isolated incidents of theft.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
