Ram Mandir Trust Scam: Champat Rai Denies involvement In Donation Fraud, records 3 hours of statement amid SIT investigations

Several days after the SIT investigation, Champat Rai denied all allegations of mishandling of religious funds from the sacred site during a three-hour police investigation on Monday.

During questioning, he said he had never imagined employees responsible for handling temple donations could commit such a crime. Police took detailed notes from Rai about the irregularities linked to the theft case. As per the First Investigation Report (FIR) lodged at the Ayodhya Dham police station, seven banks were used to transfer the alleged stolen funds, through which the funds are being matched.

So far, eight accused have been identified by the police as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav. All eight accused will remain in judicial custody until July 13.

   

A petition has been sought in the Supreme Court to recover the cash, gold, silver, jewellery, digital donations and other valuable offerings made at the Temple’s trust to be treated as trust property that requires transparent, accountable and fiduciary management by those entrusted with their custody. It has been noted that the daily footfall after the incident has reduced by 50% at the religious site.

In an interview with India Times, Vishv Hindu Parishad’s International President Alok Kumar on whether the organisation bears any accountability for Champat Rai’s actions, he said: “I am distancing myself from the actions of Shri Champat Rai in his capacity as the General Secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust”.