New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged Ram Temple donation theft
case in Ayodhya as it ended its monitoring in the matter.. The top court disposed of a batch of petitions seeking a CBI investigation after the Uttar Pradesh government informed it that a chargesheet had been filed in the case. A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant directed the Magistrate concerned to proceed in accordance with the law. Taking note of the public interest involved in the matter, the court also permitted the petitioners to assist the Magistrate in the proceedings. The bench clarified that it had expressed no opinion on the merits of the allegations. It allowed the petitioners to assist the Magistrate “in the same manner as victims of crime are permitted to assist criminal proceedings”. With this, the Supreme Court closed the hearing and the case will not be under SC's supervision anymore.. The matter will now proceed before the Magistrate in Ayodhya in accordance with the law.
What Solicitor General Tushar Mehta Told Supreme Court
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh Special Investigation Team (SIT), informed the bench about the investigation and the steps taken by the authorities.
“Theft was happening during counting. 45 days CCTV is always maintained but we went further backwards,” Mehta told the bench.
He also submitted that the SIT had examined the financial accounts of each accused and found that some of them had invested in properties.
“We checked accounts of each accused. Some of them invested in properties,” the Solicitor General told the court.
SC Asks New Petitioner To Approach Civil Court
The bench also declined to entertain a plea filed by a new petitioner, Kameshwar Nath, representing the "Ramjanmabhoomi Case Trust", and asked him to approach the civil court with his prayer.
Nath had sought the constitution of an independent court-appointed committee or commission comprising qualified survey, revenue, archaeological and other technical experts.
The prayer sought the formation of a panel to determine whether the temple currently constructed or developed stands on the exact premises and land adjudicated by the Supreme Court.
The top court constituted a state special investigation team (SIT) to probe the matter. In September this year, the SIT submitted a chargesheet running nearly 70,000 pages against eight accused in the anti-corruption court. Notably, eight accisec - Avinash Shukla, Manish Kumar Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, Karunesh Pandey and Subhash Srivastav - were arrested in the case.
As per the chargesheet filed by the SIT, the investigation found no evidence of any cash being siphoned off during its subsequent transfer to banks. It is based on CCTV footage of the counting process, statements by witnesses, and financial and forensic audit reports. These reports identified 105 incidents where the alleged misappropriation of donation funds took place.
Approximately Rs 80 lakh in cash has been recovered from seven of the accused. Meanwhile, an audit of 803 trust software-recorded valuables and silver/gold consignments showed no discrepancies.
Former top officials of Trust including Ex General Secretary Champat Rai and Anil Mishra Gopal Rao are listed as prosecution witness.
