Ram Temple Fund Embezzlement: Champat Rai, Anil Mishra Resignations Accepted, Krishna Mohan named Interim General Secretary

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, July 6: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has accepted the resignation of its general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Dr Anil Mishra amid allegations of embezzlements of donation fund at the Ayodhya Ram Temple with the trust’s treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj saying the decision was taken in accordance with the trust’s constitution.

Krishna Mohan, a trustee, has been appointed the interim general secretary in Champat Rai’s place while Govind Giri will continue as the trust’s treasurer

Addressing the media after the Trust’s all important meeting in Ayodhya that went on for over two hours on Monday, Govind Giri said the resignations had been formally accepted. “Under the constitution of the trust, the resignation is considered accepted. We accepted the resignation,” Giri said.

He added, “While accepting the resignation, we appreciated his contribution since the beginning.” The development comes amid allegations of irregularities in the counting of donations made to the Ram Mandir trust. Referring to the controversy, senior trust member Pankaj Jaiswal described the incident as “painful” and termed the alleged theft during donation counting as “shameful.”

“It was painful to go through this,” Jaiswal said. “It was shameful, this theft during the counting of the donation,” he added. The trust also announced organisational changes following the resignations. He said the Trust would meet again on July 22 after the final report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was released.

Giri said the guilty would be brought to justice, while appealing to people to maintain peace and calm. He also took a swipe at the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, without naming the two opposition parties, saying they were trying to politicise the matter.

“Our Trust is fully committed to ensuring such impeccable execution, and we have constituted a small committee to appoint specific officials for this purpose; we will continue to advance the work in this way,” Giri said.

“We are meeting again on the 22nd. We anticipate that the SIT’s final report will be available to us by that time; we are meeting on the 22nd to deliberate on that report and to appoint additional trustees. We wish to state unequivocally that theft is theft, and the SIT is currently investigating the matter; that is the administration’s responsibility,” he added.

The development comes after the trust held a high-level meeting at the guest house inside the temple’s premises and expressed confidence into the investigation that is being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was constituted by the Yogi Adityanath government earlier.

Rai has been at the centre of the controversy and his close aide Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav is among the 8 people in the counting staff to have been arrested by the SIT. Rai, along with Mishra, has also been grilled by the SIT and the Ayodhya Police, but no first information report (FIR) has been registered against him as of now.

The trust’s Monday meeting was attended by most of its members, including 89-year-old chairperson Nritya Gopal Das; although Rai and Mishra decided to skip it since discussions were held over their resignations.

Hours before the commencement of the meeting, Das said he was ‘deeply pained’ by the alleged theft and said the guilty must be brought to justice. However, he also appealed to people that the case should not be politicised, while expressing confidence that appropriate action would be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Krishna Mohan, a trustee who has now been appointed as interim general secretary, said the trust was ‘deeply pained’ by the events that have transpired. He said he would make every effort to ensure that such incidents did not recur in the future, while accepting that the alleged theft has tarnished the image of the trust. “I have been entrusted with the responsibility of discharging the duties of General Secretary in an acting capacity until a new General Secretary is appointed. Anyone found guilty in this matter, we will insist and remain firm in our insistence that they receive appropriate punishment in accordance with justice,” he said.

Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj has said the Board of Trustees would be fully constituted and a three-member committee has been appointed to present names. This committee comprises retired Justice Pradeep Kohli, retired Lieutenant General Vishnukant Chaturvedi, and Suresh ji Havare, who successfully managed the Shirdi institution for 10 years, he said. “We have finalised this three-member committee; they will interview various candidates and submit names to us, from which we will make the final selection,” he added.