Badrinath Dham donation row: SIT submits 18-page probe report on multi-day cash theft

The departmental inquiry team probing the Shri Badrinath Dham donation misappropriation has submitted an 18-page report to the CEO. The SIT confirmed multiple instances of theft and recommended urgent CCTV upgrades to cover temple blind spots

Chamoli: The departmental inquiry team constituted to investigate the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Shri Badrinath Dham has completed its probe and submitted the report to the CEO.

According the investigation, the preliminary findings purportedly suggest that the theft of devotees’ offerings and valuables took place not just once, but on multiple occasions. According to sources, the four-member inquiry team has detailed the entire incident and the findings of their investigation in an 18-page report.

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The SIT report has also offered suggestions to prevent such incidents in the future. The committee has clarified several aspects of the matter in the report. It has recommended installing more CCTV cameras in the temple’s donation counting room and covering all ‘blind spots’ along the temple’s circumambulation path with CCTV surveillance.

Sources indicate that the inquiry team could only retrieve footage dating back 14 days, prior to the incident on July 2. Due to the inferior quality of previously installed CCTV cameras, their storage capacity was limited to just 15 days.

The alleged accused is seen misappropriating money in the footage from July 2. The team also found several segments of the footage from the preceding 14 days to be significant.

The Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) had taken major action on July 7 to uphold discipline and administrative transparency. Pramod Nautiyal, a Personal Assistant posted in the Chairman’s office, was suspended with immediate effect.

The committee had previously constituted a four-member panel to conduct an impartial investigation into the matter.

According to the order issued by the BKTC, prima facie allegations of serious irregularities regarding the discharge of official duties had surfaced against Pramod Nautiyal.

Subsequently, a show-cause notice was issued to him on July 3, seeking an explanation. The committee had formed the four-member inquiry panel to ensure a fair and detailed investigation into the case.

The clarifications received during the investigation and the committee’s preliminary report were examined, and the allegations levelled were found to be prima facie correct.