Ayodhya scraps Ram Darbar pass system for devotees

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has abolished the special pass system for Ram Darbar visits, allowing devotees to proceed directly after Ram Lalla darshan. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-monitored probe into the temple donation theft continues under a reconstituted SIT

Ayodhya: The special pass system for visiting the Ram Darbar at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has been abolished, making the ‘darshan’ process more convenient for devotees.

Under the new arrangement, devotees will no longer be required to obtain separate passes to visit the Ram Darbar. After completing the general ‘darshan’ of Ram Lalla through the regular queue, devotees can directly proceed to the Ram Darbar on the first floor of the temple.

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Earlier, only a limited number of special passes were issued each day for ‘darshan’ at the Ram Darbar. With the implementation of the revised system, the special pass requirement has been completely removed.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust said the decision was taken to simplify the ‘darshan’ process and make it more accessible for devotees.

Meanwhile, Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Kiran S, will head the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the theft of donations from the Ayodhya Ram Temple, the Uttar Pradesh government informed the Supreme Court on July 27. In response, Chief Justice of India (CJI), Surya Kant, directed the authorities to appoint a chartered accountant to aid the investigation team and submit a status report within two weeks.

The Bench, comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, heard the matter. During the previous hearing on July 20, the CJI had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider reconstituting the SIT and recommended that a senior IPS officer lead the probe.

The embezzlement of temple donations came to light in the first week of June. The Uttar Pradesh government constituted the SIT on June 13 and initially gave it 15 days to investigate the allegations.

Following the submission of the preliminary SIT report on June 23, an FIR was registered on June 25. Eight accused Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav were arrested in connection with the case.

Last month, Champat Rai, the general secretary of the trust managing the temple, resigned on moral grounds. Earlier this month, he accused the State Bank of India’s Ayodhya branch of negligence and alleged that it had failed to follow security protocols. In a note to the SIT, he said senior bank officials must explain how security lapses were allowed in the chest room.