New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will take “remedial steps to ensure transparency” in managing donations to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, while stressing that its immediate priority is a “speedy, qualitative and impartial investigation in a time-bound manner” into allegations of donation embezzlement.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, directed the Uttar Pradesh government to add a forensic audit expert to the newly formed special investigation team (SIT), noting that the probe will inevitably require close scrutiny of financial records and transactions. The court also ordered the SIT to file a status report within two weeks, as reported by Hindustan Times.
“The nature of investigation involves accounts…We are asking for a report. We are not closing the matter. We would like to know about the investigation. The rest we will decide at a later stage,” the bench observed.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, told the court that the state had set up a four-member SIT headed by Inspector General of Police Kiran S in compliance with earlier observations.
Mehta, with senior additional advocate general Sharan Dev Singh Thakur, accepted the court’s suggestion to add a forensic-audit expert to the team. The bench reiterated, “The present focus is on investigation. We must have a speedy, qualitative and impartial investigation in a time-bound manner.”
Public Disclosure Urged
In its order, the bench recorded the composition of the SIT as inspector general Kiran S, deputy inspector general Somen Barma, Ayodhya senior superintendent of police Gaurav Grover and additional superintendent of police Ritesh Kumar Singh, and noted the solicitor general’s commitment that “a member having experience of forensic audit will also be associated as a member of the SIT.”
Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Sudhakar Singh, urged that greater transparency be mandated for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust by publicly disclosing donation details.
“One of the issues would be whether the money sent by people reached the trust or not. People have given ₹500, ₹1,000. Ultimately, there are reports that the money has not reached the trust. Whatever the trust got may be shown on a website so that people will know their money has reached,” Kamat said, pressing the court to ensure donors can verify their contributions.
The bench indicated such transparency concerns will be addressed through the investigation, assuring that “SIT will look into all aspects…all the remedial steps that need to be taken will be taken by us”.
Monitoring Request Not Decided
Kamat also asked that a retired judge be appointed to oversee the probe; Solicitor General Mehta opposed this, saying it was unnecessary because the current bench itself was supervising the investigation. The court did not issue any order on the request.
The latest directions follow the court’s earlier caution against politicising the issue and its suggestion that the probe be overseen by the senior officials who conducted the preliminary inquiry. On July 25, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted the SIT headed by IG Kiran S in response.
In a related development, a special court in Ayodhya on Monday extended the judicial custody of all eight accused in the donation theft case by 14 days, until August 10, Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Rajat Verma ordered after they were produced virtually from the district jail.
