Work at the temple site in Ayodhya. (Express Photo) Mahant Dharam Das of the Nirvani Akhada in Ayodhya has accused the members of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which is in charge of the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, of “betraying” people and Ram devotees “by committing fraud” while purchasing land for the temple, and alleged that donations had been misused. The mahant on Wednesday demanded that religious leaders in Ayodhya be given the responsibility of running the shrine.
Das submitted a complaint against the Trust at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station on Tuesday. In his complaint, he named all of the Trust’s members and office-bearers, including general secretary Champat Rai and member Anil Mishra, Ayodhya mayor’s nephew Deep Narayan, Rajkumar Das of Ram Ballabhakunj, and sub-registrar SB Singh. The police said they have received a complaint but are yet to register an FIR.
On July 2, the Trust claimed that no evidence of irregularities had been found by a “team of experts who scrutinised all the documents related to the land deals”. The Trust’s treasurer Govind Dev Giri told reporters that they would not get into any “media trial”, and added that all the documents related to the land purchases “show full transparency and honesty”.
Dharam Das, who has in the past labelled the formation of the Trust as “illegal”, alleged in his police complaint that the funds collected for the construction of the temple had been misused, and demanded the immediate sacking of Champat Rai. He said on Wednesday that the responsibility of running the shrine should be given to the Hindu saints in Ayodhya.
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