Activity within the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust intensified on Wednesday as Trust Treasurer Govind Dev Giri Maharaj met former general secretary Champat Rai at the Tirtha Kshetra Bhavan amid the ongoing donation theft controversy linked to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
According to sources, Govind Dev Giri reached the Trust office at around 7.15 am and held discussions with Champat Rai for nearly two hours. The meeting assumes significance as it was the first interaction between the two since Champat Rai stepped down from his post following the donation theft row.
The development comes a day after Krishna Mohan and Bajrang Lal Bagra also met Champat Rai, indicating heightened activity within the Trust after Rai's recent letter and written statement submitted to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case.
Sources said Gopal Rao was present at the venue, but did not participate in the discussions, which were held exclusively between Champat Rai and Govind Dev Giri Maharaj.
With the Trust already under scrutiny over the alleged theft of offerings, the closed-door meeting has fuelled fresh speculation over its significance and whether it could shape the Trust's next course of action.
Trust meeting held on Monday
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust convened a meeting on Monday after the alleged theft of offerings at the Ayodhya Ram Temple came to light. During the meeting, the resignations of Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and Trust member Anil Mishra were formally accepted.
The Trust is expected to decide at its next meeting on July 22 whether to appoint Krishna Mohan, a retired Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer, as the permanent successor to Champat Rai as General Secretary.
Speaking exclusively to India TV after the meeting, Trust Treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri said the theft took place because the prescribed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) had not been followed strictly.
He clarified that, as Treasurer, his responsibility is limited to safeguarding the funds deposited in the treasury and supervising the Trust's income and expenditure. Monitoring the temple offerings, he said, does not fall under his jurisdiction.
According to Swami Govind Dev Giri, the responsibility for overseeing the offerings rested with the personnel deployed at the temple, with Anil Mishra bearing the primary responsibility. He also clarified that Gopal Rao was neither a member of the Trust nor a trustee. He further alleged that negligence on the part of SBI contributed to the theft of the offerings. The Ram Mandir offering theft case has since become a matter of nationwide discussion.
Accused taken on one-day remand
In another major development, a police team today took three accused from the Ayodhya District Jail for custodial interrogation after a local court granted one-day police custody in the alleged Ram Temple donation embezzlement case.
The accused - Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra and Karunesh Pandey - were escorted from the district jail to the Ayodhya Police Lines as part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged misappropriation of donations received at the Ram Temple.
On Tuesday, an Ayodhya court allowed one-day police custody of the three accused after the police argued that their custodial interrogation was necessary to further the investigation. The Investigating Officer (IO) informed the court that questioning the accused in custody would help establish additional facts related to the case.
Written by Jitisha Parihar. Jitisha Parihar is an intern with IndiaTV Digital.
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