Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust treasurer Govind Dev Giri Maharaj on Tuesday ruled out resigning over the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying he was not personally at fault and that the State Bank of India (SBI) should have exercised greater vigilance as all those arrested so far were bank employees.
Addressing reporters in Pune, Giri Maharaj said his “penance” was to prevent a recurrence, not resignation.
“I never said I would resign. I am a follower of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and I am not one of those who run away. When the time demands that I should fight, it is not in our dharma to quit the field,” he said, dismissing reports of his resignation as “malicious”.
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He said those arrested were SBI employees deployed by the bank to handle donations from temple collection boxes.
“All those arrested so far are SBI employees. They were deployed by SBI, not by the trust. Even if some appointments were made on recommendations, it was SBI’s responsibility to verify their credentials. SBI is one of the country’s leading banks,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“All those arrested so far are SBI employees. They were deployed by SBI, not by the trust. Even if some appointments were made on recommendations, it was SBI’s responsibility to verify their credentials. SBI is one of the country’s leading banks,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“They are not preachers; they are bank officials. So they should have remained vigilant,” he added.
Giri Maharaj said the alleged embezzlement involved cash from donation boxes, not money deposited in the trust’s bank accounts. He estimated the amount siphoned off at around ₹3 crore, while stressing that it was not an official figure.
He said he was satisfied with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe and the Supreme Court’s monitoring of the case.
On former general secretary Champat Rai’s resignation, Giri Maharaj said Rai had stepped down voluntarily and that, under the trust’s constitution, the resignation took effect as soon as it was submitted. Terming Rai “negligent”, he rejected suggestions that Rai had been made a scapegoat.
“I do not believe I am at fault. But since my name is associated with the post of treasurer, I deeply regret that this happened,” he said.
Calling the alleged theft “a crime against Lord Ram”, Giri Maharaj said the trust had introduced safeguards, including pocketless uniforms for cash handlers, removal of CCTV blind spots, floor-level cash counting, mandatory presence of two trust representatives and two SBI officials, and frisking of personnel.
He also dismissed reports that gold offerings worth ₹1,400 crore had gone missing as “completely false”, saying the trust had displayed a register of 2,926 valuable offerings for devotees to verify. He added that no white paper would be released while the SIT probe was underway.