LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a CBI probe into the ongoing controversy over the alleged theft of Ram temple donation money in Ayodhya.
The court declined to hear the petition, noting that a similar plea seeking the same relief is already pending before the Supreme Court.
A division bench comprising Justice Ranjan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla was hearing the PIL filed by advocate Mohit Ashok, who sought an independent, credible and time-bound investigation by the CBI into the alleged embezzlement of donation funds and valuables at the Ram temple.
The petitioner also sought a comprehensive special forensic audit of the accounts of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Relying on media reports, the petitioner alleged that money offered by devotees in the temple's donation boxes (daan-patra) had been embezzled by certain employees of the trust.
On June 13, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) at the request of the temple trust following allegations of misappropriation of donations received at the temple.
Subsequently, an FIR was registered in Ayodhya on June 25 based on a complaint by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust against eight named individuals and unknown persons.
Those booked by Ayodhya police include Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Manish Yadav, Luvkush Mishra, Karunesh Pandey, Rama Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, Anukalp Mishra and Avinash Shukla. They have been charged with embezzlement, fraud, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust over the alleged misappropriation of Ram Temple donations.
Meanwhile, on July 3, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP from Buxar Sudhakar Singh moved the Supreme Court seeking an independent probe into the finances of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, citing recent allegations of financial irregularities, the ongoing SIT probe and the reported recovery of a cash trail of more than Rs 79 lakh.