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Ram temple donation theft case: UP govt reconstitutes SIT, IG (Lucknow) to head new team
New three-member team to comprise IG Kiran S, DIG (Ayodhya) Somen Barma and SSP (Ayodhya) Gaurav Grover; the move follows Supreme Court directive for IPS-led investigation
The Uttar Pradesh government has reconstituted the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged theft of cash donations at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya, appointing inspector general (Lucknow range) Kiran S. to head the fresh three-member panel in compliance with directions issued by the Supreme Court for an IPS officer-led investigation.
According to highly placed sources, the new SIT will comprise Kiran S as its chairperson, while DIG (Ayodhya) Somen Barma and SSP (Ayodhya) Gaurav Grover will serve as members. Though the constitution of the new panel has been agreed upon by the state authorities, an official notification confirming the appointments was yet to be issued till the filing of this report.
The reconstituted SIT replaces the earlier panel headed by Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, an IAS officer. Kiran S was also a member of the previous SIT and has now been entrusted with leading the criminal investigation.
The move follows the Supreme Court’s July 20 direction asking the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute a fresh SIT under the leadership of a senior IPS officer while hearing petitions related to the alleged pilferage of donations at the Ram temple. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohan also directed the state government to place a fresh status report before it on July 27.
Sources said the new IPS-led SIT is expected to take over all records, evidence and findings collected by the previous panel and continue the investigation without disrupting the ongoing probe. The focus will remain on establishing the criminal conspiracy behind the alleged theft, tracing the movement of the siphoned money, identifying supervisory lapses and fixing accountability.
The alleged theft surfaced after CCTV footage from the temple’s cash counting centre purportedly showed repeated instances of cash being siphoned off during the counting of devotees’ offerings, triggering one of the biggest investigations into the management of donations at the Ram temple.
The earlier SIT had conducted multiple visits to Ayodhya and submitted a preliminary report to the state government on June 23 after examining CCTV footage, cash-counting procedures, security arrangements and the role of officials, banking personnel and outsourced employees involved in handling donations.
According to its preliminary findings, CCTV footage recorded between April 27 and June 5 allegedly captured around 70 incidents of cash pilferage inside the donation counting room. The panel reportedly attributed the thefts to serious supervisory failures and violations of the prescribed standard operating procedures.
The previous investigation also examined the implementation of the agreement and standard operating procedures between the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the State Bank of India for handling temple donations. It found that safeguards such as biometric attendance, frisking of personnel, CCTV monitoring and other mandatory security protocols were either inadequately enforced or ignored.
Eight accused, including outsourced cash-counting personnel, have already been arrested in the case.
During the investigation, police recovered cash, gold, vehicles and financial documents allegedly acquired using the misappropriated money, while multiple bank accounts linked to the accused and their relatives were frozen.
With the Supreme Court closely monitoring the case, the newly constituted SIT is expected to submit its first progress report before the apex court on July 27. The findings of the fresh IPS-led probe are expected to shape the next phase of the investigation into the alleged theft of donations at one of the country’s most prominent religious institutions.
