State Bureau, Lucknow: Amid the ongoing probe into the alleged Ram Mandir domination theft case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe has confirmed irregularities in the counting of the offerings.
As per the preliminary investigation report, CCTV footage shows that offerings were stolen 70 times between April 27 and June 5 during the counting. Apart from this, the recordings have also found some employees hiding the notes during the counting.
Probe Flags Irregularities
The report also suggested that the theft continued for a long time due to flaws in the security and monitoring system. As per the CCTV footage, several employees were seen hiding bundles of notes and loose notes inside their clothes and shoes. The probe suggests that six employees, Avinash Shukla, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Ram Shankar Mishra, were largely involved in the theft.
SIT Probe- Major Findings
– The special team confirmed theft during the counting of offerings at the temple
– As per the available CCTV footage between April 27 and June 5, 70 instances of theft were recorded during counting
– However, the actual number of such cases could not be assessed due to non-availability of CCTV footage before April 24
– The Ram Janmbhoomi Trust claims to have recovered around Rs 78.94 lakh, foreign currency, valuables and Rs 2.25 lakh separately from the suspects even before the SIT was formed
– As per the probe, the SOP between the trust and the bank was not followed, which created the circumstances for the theft
– Senior Trust official Anil Mishra has been accused of failing to monitor and enforce SOPs, leading to the theft in the offerings
– Ramshankar Yadav, alias Tinnu, continued to hold the keys of the bills without any formal order and appointed his relatives for the counting work
– The SIT has recommended a criminal investigation by registering an FIR against the six accused employees
– It confirmed that the findings are of the initial phase and the probe is still ongoing