Badrinath Donation Theft: The first arrest has been made in the case of alleged theft of offerings in Badrinath temple. The police have arrested temple committee employee Pramod Nautiyal and started interrogation.
Badrinath Temple Donation Theft Case: A major development has come to light in the controversy over alleged theft of offerings in the famous Badrinath temple of Uttarakhand. Making the first arrest in the case, the police have taken temple committee employee Pramod Nautiyal into custody. This action has been taken after investigation amid allegations of alleged irregularities in counting of offerings and donations. The police is now busy interrogating the accused and connecting the links of the entire incident, while separate investigations of the temple committee and administration are also going on.
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Arrest made after CCTV investigation
According to Chamoli Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Surjit Singh Panwar, police arrested Pramod Nautiyal from his residence on Sunday night and took him to Badrinath for questioning. It is alleged that Nautiyal, who is posted as Personal Assistant (PA) to the temple committee chairman, was also given the responsibility of protocol and donation calculation.
On July 2, Bhairav Sena had alleged that Nautiyal had tampered with the offerings during the counting of donations, the alleged images of which were captured in CCTV footage. After this, the temple committee formed a four-member departmental investigation team, which examined the CCTV footage and related documents. He was suspended on July 7 after prima facie the allegations were found to be true.
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Missing after FIR, also reached High Court
After the suspension, temple officer in-charge of the temple committee, Yudhveer Paswan, lodged an FIR at Badrinath police station. As soon as the police investigation began, Pramod Nautiyal allegedly went missing from July 8 and his mobile phone was also found switched off. Meanwhile, he also approached the High Court to stay the FIR registered against him and the possible arrest. However, the police continued the investigation and finally arrested him.
Serious claims in 18 page report, accused declared himself innocent
The four-member investigation team of the temple committee submitted its 18-page report on July 11. The report claimed that on July 2, the accused was seen allegedly embezzling money more than once. The report also mentions that on June 29, he was seen carrying something resembling money.
Meanwhile, a separate investigation committee headed by the commissioner constituted by the state government is also investigating the matter. At the same time, in a brief conversation with journalists, Pramod Nautiyal denied all the allegations against him and said that he is innocent. At present, further legal action is being taken on the basis of police inquiry and investigation.