Overview
- The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team led by senior administrative and police officials to investigate alleged misappropriation of donations to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
- The Trust itself asked the chief minister for a formal SIT probe and has detained or questioned several employees while searches by authorities and Trust officials reportedly recovered cash totaling roughly Rs 5–12 lakh in separate operations.
- A Public Interest Litigation filed in the Allahabad High Court seeks a CBI criminal probe and a special forensic audit by the CAG into donations including cash, gold and silver; the court is expected to hear the matter next week.
- A former head of accounts for the Trust has alleged systematic short-recording of cash collections and deletion of months of CCTV footage, claims that the petitioner cited to argue an internal inquiry would not be sufficient.
- Political figures from multiple parties have demanded public disclosure of the Trust’s accounts and assets and national offices including the PMO and RSS have sought information, raising pressure for transparent, independent accounting and possible judicial action.