Ram temple donation ‘theft’: SIT charge sheet likely to be filed on Wednesday

The charge sheet is expected to set out findings from a detailed investigation covering cash collections and counting, movement of segregated cash to banks and valuable donations

LUCKNOW The Supreme Court-mandated Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya is likely to file its charge sheet before the competent court on Wednesday, people familiar with the investigation said.

A parallel financial audit examined the bank accounts, deposits, withdrawals and other transactions of the eight accused. I (Pic for representation)

The charge sheet is expected to set out findings from a detailed investigation covering cash collections and counting, movement of segregated cash to banks and valuable donations. It will also include documents relating to financial dealings and assets of the eight accused arrested so far, along with findings of a separate forensic audit.

The SIT found evidence of alleged unauthorised removal or concealment of cash during counting at the temple, according to people familiar with the probe. The team also examined 803 valuable articles for which receipts had been generated through the temple trust’s software and found no discrepancy after physical verification and reconciliation with records. Investigators also separately identified and physically verified 86 valuable articles for which receipts were not available, to establish whether they were missing or otherwise unaccounted for.

A parallel financial audit examined the bank accounts, deposits, withdrawals and other transactions of the eight accused. Investigators also scrutinised their properties, vehicles, jewellery, construction expenditure and other assets. The financial material is expected to form part of the prosecution documents to establish the money trail and examine whether the accused’s assets and expenditure were commensurate with their known sources of income.

The SIT examined 173 witnesses, including temple trust functionaries, personnel involved in donation counting, bank officials, security personnel, CCTV operators, chartered accountants and vendors.

Investigators relied on CCTV footage, digital records, donation and banking documents, recovery material, property records and forensic findings to reconstruct the alleged transactions.

The 105 instances identified during the latest investigation are higher than the 70 alleged theft instances identified by the first SIT headed by then Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant.

The second SIT was constituted by the Supreme Court in July, with Kiran S as its head and DIG (Ayodhya) Somen Barma and SSP (Ayodhya) Gaurav Grover and additional SP Ritesh Kumar Singh as members. The court also directed the inclusion of a forensic auditor. The charge sheet is likely to be filed ahead of the September 25 deadline indicated before the Supreme Court, when the 90-day period from the first arrest is due to expire.

The filing will place before the trial court the CCTV, documentary, electronic, financial and forensic material gathered during the investigation into the alleged donation theft.