A Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) final report into allegations of irregularities in the Ram Temple collections flagged “gross lapses” in the functioning of the trust that managed the shrine but exonerated two top former functionaries of the body, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
The report of the three-member SIT –– first constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government on June 13 and which filed its interim report on July 20 –– was submitted to the state government and the trust on Monday evening. To be sure, a second SIT –– set up by the Supreme Court on July 20 –– is still probing the case.
No evidence against Champat Rai, Anil Mishra
The UP SIT report criticised the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and its lack of professional financial management, and questioned the role of the State Bank of India, which held the trust’s principal account, said a trust official requesting anonymity.
Deep Dive
What were the main findings of the SIT report regarding Ram Temple donation management?
Why was Ram Shankar Yadav identified as the alleged mastermind in the Ram Temple donation case?
How does the SIT recommend the Ram Temple trust improve its financial management practices?
Also read | Ram temple donation ‘theft’: SIT submits final report, Uttar Pradesh govt forwards it to Trust
“There was absence of adequate checks, absence of professional financial management and inadequate supervision at multiple levels,” the report said, according to the trust official cited above.
{{/usCountry}}“There was absence of adequate checks, absence of professional financial management and inadequate supervision at multiple levels,” the report said, according to the trust official cited above.
{{/usCountry}}But it didn’t find any proof of allegations of embezzlement against former trust general secretary Champat Rai or former trust member Anil Mishra, both of whom resigned on June 25 in the face of mounting pressure and Opposition criticism.
“There is no evidence of personal misappropriation or mala fide intent on their part,” the report said, according to the trust official.
Former aide named as alleged mastermind
Instead, the SIT named Ram Shankar Yadav or Tinnu Yadav – a former aide and driver of Rai – as the mastermind behind the alleged diversion of funds. Yadav is one of eight men arrested by the police in connection with the allegations.
HT reached out to officials, the temple trust, Champat Rai and Anil Mishra, but did not receive a response till the time of going to print.
The SIT tracked bank transactions, property deals and investments to establish how the allegedly siphoned donation money was routed, said a person familiar with the probe. The SIT report recommended that the trust adopt transparent accounting practices, appoint professional auditors and create a dedicated finance and compliance cell.
The report said that Yadav used his contacts with local donation collection volunteers to gain access to cash and cheques before they reached the trust’s designated bank accounts, the person added.
“There was no dedicated finance and audit cell, no standard operating procedure for collection agents and inadequate reconciliation between donation receipts issued and money deposited,” said the report, according to the person cited above.
Investigators found that funds collected in the name of Ram Temple donation were allegedly diverted by the group of eight men and later invested in real estate, land purchases in Ayodhya and adjoining districts, and private businesses, the person added.
The report detailed specific bank accounts and shell entities allegedly used to layer the transactions and noted that some of the money was used to buy agricultural land and commercial plots when donations peaked following the consecration ceremony, the person quoted above said.
The controversy first surfaced on June 7 when Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan ‘Pawan’ Pandey alleged that donations worth ₹5 crore to ₹7.5 crore were siphoned off from temple offerings. On June 13, the state government set up the SIT. In its interim report, the SIT alleged that a portion of the offerings was siphoned off before being deposited into the temple’s designated bank account, leading to the arrest of eight employees associated with handling and counting donations on June 26.
The eight men – Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey – were arrested and booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61 and 3(5), relating to offences such as criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Anukalp Mishra and Luvkush Mishra are related to each other, and also to Anil Mishra. Ram Shankar Yadav – an aide of Rai – and Manish Yadav are related.
Last month, the police also seized ₹79,85,493 from the eight arrested men, recovering money from bathrooms, haystacks and cow dung cakes.
In its report, the SIT questioned SBI –– the trust’s main account was at the Nayaghat branch of the public-sector bank – and said thousands of envelopes containing cash and cheques were sent to designated bank branches, but bank personnel did not follow the required protocols for verification and reconciliation, the person cited above said.
The SIT suggested that the matter be taken up with the bank’s top management for accountability and for putting in place stricter guidelines for such large-scale public donation drives in future, the person said
According to the SIT findings, the trust failed to put in place a robust system for the collection, accounting and safekeeping of the massive donations after the foundation stone of the Ram temple was laid in 2020.
The report noted that the responsibility for counting and verifying cash donations was outsourced to SBI, but its staff “did not execute its duty of proper supervision”, flagging this as a key procedural failure, they added.
To be sure, HT has reported that six of the eight arrested men were on the payroll of a Varanasi-based security agency that provided manpower to SBI, allegedly at the recommendation of trust members.
The state government SIT comprised Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, inspector general of police (Lucknow range) Kiran S and special secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan.
The second SIT, set up by the apex court, is headed by Kiran S and also comprises DIG (Ayodhya) Somen Barma, and SSP (Ayodhya) Gaurav Grover.