Ayodhya land deal: MP Congress leader seeks registration of FIR against Trust officials

INDORE: A Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh has lodged a complaint with the Indore Police seeking registration of an FIR on the charge of "fraud" against officials of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust alleging they "misappropriated" Rs 16 crore in buying a piece of land for the Ram temple project in Ayodhya.

MP Congress Committee general secretary and media in-charge KK Mishra on Tuesday said he had lodged the complaint on Monday night at Chhatripura police station in Indore.

Referring to media reports, Mishra said, "Officials of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had misappropriated around Rs 16 crore while purchasing the land for the Ram temple construction project. For this act, an FIR should be registered against the officials of the Trust on charges of breach of trust and fraud under the Indian Penal Code".

"I am proud to be a Sanatani Hindu and had donated Rs 1,000 this year for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya," he told reporters.

Confirming that Mishra had submitted a complaint, Chhatripura police station in-charge Pawan Singhal said that appropriate legal action will be taken on this complaint as per directives of senior police officers.

The allegation that the land worth Rs 2 crore was bought at an inflated price of over Rs 18 crore by Shriram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the Ram temple premises in Ayodhya was made by Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and a former minister in the Samajwadi Party government, Pawan Pandey.

While strongly refuting the allegations related to the land deal, Trust general secretary Champat Rai on Monday said the organisation was committed to full transparency and dismissed the allegations as politically motivated and aimed at spreading disinformation.