New Delhi (India) July 12: The top leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday expressed “deep anguish” over alleged financial irregularities discovered during the counting of offerings collected in the donation boxes of Ayodhya’s Ram temple. 

RSS Urges Trust To Prevent Future Lapses

Addressing its top leadership in a meeting held at Belagavi, the RSS has called upon the Ram temple trust to ensure such an incident doesn’t repeat. 

RSS Official Sunil Ambekar said, "In the meeting, everyone expressed grief over the incident of irregularities in the counting of the donation box offerings at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, and expressed confidence that the ongoing SIT and police action, initiated at the request of the Teerth Kshetra Nyas, will reach a decisive turn. It was expected of the Teerth Kshetra Nyas to ensure that no such incident occurs in the future which could hurt the reverence and deep faith of all Ram Bhakts toward the Ram Mandir." 

The issue was discussed on the concluding day of the RSS’s three-day Akhil Bharatiya Prant Pracharak Baithak, which also touched upon topics such as population imbalance, census, and drug abuse, along with reviewing training programmes and the organization’s plans for its centenary year.

Probe Reveals Multiple Thefts During Counting

As per India Today, investigations have revealed 70 thefts in 40 days in the probe, investigators found evidence of theft of temple donations by at least eight individuals over 40 days, all during the evening shift of counting offerings.

According to sources, the alleged thefts prompted a change in the system of counting donations, and now, the temple follows a single-shift system in place of the previous two shifts. 

SIT Probe Into Ram Mandir Donation Irregularities

An investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising three members, was formed on June 13, after Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust complained of alleged misappropriation of temple donations. The alleged corruption came to light on June 7, when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged fraud in donation collection at the Ram temple, which was followed by alleged anomalies noted by temple authorities during the initial weeks of June.

Preliminary findings of the SIT report have indicated prima facie evidence of misappropriation, leading to an FIR registration and the arrests of the eight temple workers associated with counting the offerings. As a result of the probe, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai resigned from his post, which was accepted on July 6.