MANGALURU: Rationalist Narendra Nayak in an open letter to the newly elected trustees of Sri Venkataramana Temple (SVT), Car Street, has demanded re-audit of the temple accounts in view of allegations of large-scale misappropriation in the temple funds.
In the letter, Nayak said that one of the reasons for RTI activist Vinayak Baliga’s murder was said to be his questioning the accounts of the temple which were audited by a chartered accountant who has been elected as one of the trustees now.
“The accounts were due for re-audit and a couple of weeks before this was to happen, Baliga was brutally murdered. The CA, who was supposed to conduct the re-audit, withdrew from the exercise citing safety of his staff. The process has not been carried out for the past six years. Despite all efforts by some of us including Baliga’s sisters to seek for a re-audit of the accountsm this has not happened,” he pointed out.
Nayak said that since this has cast a shadow on the integrity of the administration and doubts have arisen in the minds of people, it is fair to demand that such an exercise be conducted to cleanse the system of its lacunae and for starting with a clean state.
“It may be recalled here that a number of lives have been lost due to this and they cannot be brought back. However, justice can be done and must be seen to be done. Like the proverbial Caesar’s wife those at the helm of affairs of a temple should be above suspicion,” he opined.