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Dhannipur mosque: Police probing donation fraud
Some fraudsters posing as trust officials opened a fake bank account in the name of the trust and inviting people to donate money through social media, police said
Police said they were investigating an alleged fraud being committed in the name of the proposed mosque in Ayodhya’s Dhannipur. Lucknow police commissionerate spokesperson Raveena Tyagi said some unknown persons had reportedly set up a bank account and were fraudulently seeking donations on social media on the behest of Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the trust established to oversee the mosque’s construction.
Tyagi, who is currently posted as the deputy commissioner of police (Central), said a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered at the Gautam Palli police station in connection with the complaint lodged by the trust.
She noted that around five acres of land had been allocated to UP Sunni Central Waqf Board for the construction of the mosque in Dhannipur in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court in its Ram Janambhoomi and Babri Masjid title dispute order.
Explaining the alleged fraud, she said: “The Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation trust was established to oversee the mosque’s construction work, and donations are being collected through four of its official bank accounts. Some fraudsters posing as trust officials have opened a fake account in Central Bank of India in the name of the trust and inviting people to donate money through social media.”
Meanwhile, the trust secretary, Athar Hussain also clarified that the trust did not have its account in the said bank, and that all promotional materials for the trust’s projects bore its registered logo.
