New Delhi, July 27 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it has reconstituted the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana was hearing a batch of petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the alleged irregularities. Appearing for the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta submitted that the SIT has already been constituted and has taken charge of the investigation.
“We have constituted an SIT headed by Inspector General of Police Mr Kiran S. There is one Deputy Inspector General (DIG), one Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and one Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP),” SG Mehta told the apex court.
The newly constituted SIT includes three senior IPS officers, with IG Kiran S as its head and DIG Ayodhya Somen Verma and SSP Ayodhya Dr Gaurav Grover as members. When one of the counsels suggested that an independent accountant should also be included in the investigating team, the Solicitor General responded, “We will include.”
Taking note of the submission, the CJI Kant-led Bench observed that the investigation involved allegations of misappropriation of trust funds and indicated that a forensic auditor should be associated with the SIT. “Since the nature of the investigation involves alleged misappropriation of trust funds, the Solicitor General has fairly agreed that a forensic auditor shall also be associated as a member of the SIT,” the apex court recorded in its order.
Directing the SIT to file a status report, the CJI Kant-led Bench said the top court’s immediate focus was on ensuring a “fair, speedy and qualitative investigation”.
During the hearing, senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted that devotees across the country had donated amounts ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 and alleged that in several cases the money had not reached the Trust.
The senior counsel urged that receipts issued to donors be uploaded on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s website so that devotees could verify whether their contributions had been credited. “People have given Rs 500, Rs 1,000. Ultimately, the money has not reached the Trust. Whatever the Trust got may be shown on a website so that people will know that their money has reached. This is not adversarial,” Kamat submitted.
However, the apex court said that its immediate concern was the ongoing investigation. “We are not closing this. Remedial actions will have to be taken. Right now our entire focus is on investigation. We must have a speedy and qualitative investigation. We are asking them to submit a report to us. The rest we will decide at a later stage,” the CJI Kant-led Bench observed.
It added that if the SIT encounters any difficulty during the investigation, appropriate directions could be issued by the top court.
At the previous hearing on July 20, the Supreme Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider reconstituting the SIT probing the alleged irregularities, observing that the investigation should be led by a senior IPS officer and taken to its “logical conclusion”.
The apex court had cautioned against politicising the issue, saying the investigation must be fair and that “courts are not a place for politics”. It had also noted that the earlier SIT was constituted only to ascertain the veracity of the allegations and suggested that the ongoing criminal investigation be entrusted to a reconstituted SIT headed by a senior IPS officer already familiar with the matter.
The batch of petitions, including those filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, petitioner-in-person Ajay Kumar Rai, RJD MP Sudhakar Singh and Hindu Dharma Parishad, seeks a court-monitored probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Earlier, on July 13, the Supreme Court had issued notice in the matter and directed the then SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a detailed status report, including particulars of its composition.
–IANS
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