Bhubaneswar: The Endowment Commissioner of Odisha has permanently removed Rajgopal Ramanuj Das, Mahant (chief) of Emar Mutt in Puri from the trusteeship of the Mutt in connection with the seizure of silver slabs on February 26, 2011.
Hearing a case filed by him suo motu, the commissioner has permanently removed the mutt chief from the trusteeship.
From the day of the order to this effect, Rajgopal Ramanuj Das is debarred from managing any affairs of the mutt, the commissioner has said in his order.
The commissioner gave the order on the basis of the statement of seven witnesses and his personal investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, the commissioner has sent a copy of his order to the state government for its approval.
It may be recalled that the officials of the state Endowment Department officials and the police had seized 522 silver ingots weighing about 18 tonnes and estimated to be around Rs 90 crore from Emar mutt in Puri on February 26, 2011.
The huge stock of silver ingots was found from four wooden containers placed inside a room which was closed from all sides by brick walls in the Mutt in front of the Shri Jagannath Temple.
The incident came to light when the police seized the silver ingots from two labourers while they were trying to sell in Dhenkanal district. One of the labourers had confessed that he had stolen a brick from the Emar Mutt during its repair work.
On the basis of the information, Dhenkanal police arrived in Puri and later in association with the local police and the Endowment officials raided the Mutt with the Endowment officials and seized huge quantity of silver ingots.
After the seizure, a case was registered with the Simhadwara Police station while the seized silver ingots were kept inside the malkhana of the Puri district police headquarters.
Taking strong exception to the violation of rules by the Emar Mutt chief who, instead of informing the Endowment Commission about the properties of the Mutt, had remained silent, the Endowment Inspector had brought the matter to the notice of the Endowment Commissioner on March 25, 2011. On the basis of the report of the Endowment Inspector, a case was registered under Section 35 of the Odisha Hindu Religious Endowment Act, 1951 in which the Endowment Commissioner had issued a show cause notice to the Emar Mutt chief as to why action would not be taken against him for concealing the fact on the property of the Mutt.
Notably, after the demise of Srinibas Ramanuj Das in 1987, the Endowment Commissioner had appointed Rajgopal Ramanuj Das as his successor of the Emar Mutt.
During the property assessment of the Mutt done by the Endowment department on July, 3, 28 and August 7 in 2010, it was found that the Mutt has 45 silver ingots.
But, how the Mahant was unaware of 522 silver ingots inside the Mutt premises had remained a million dollar question.
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