Faizabad Bar to move court over FIR in Ram temple donation case

The Faizabad Bar Association said it will approach the court after police allegedly refused to register an FIR against former Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust functionaries over alleged Ram temple donation embezzlement despite a complaint submitted on July 2

Ayodhya (UP): Faizabad Bar Association lawyers on Monday said they would approach the court, claiming that the police refused to file an FIR against former general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Champat Rai, former trust members Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao in the Ram temple donation embezzlement case.

The lawyers claimed that the police had declined to lodge an FIR against the accused despite filing a complaint on July 2 at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station.

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“We had given the police two weeks to lodge an FIR against Rai, Mishra and Rao. Today (on Monday), a delegation of the Faizabad Bar Association visited the police station regarding the FIR. The officers there informed us that the FIR has not been lodged and they informed us that they have forwarded the complaint to their higher officials,” Aftab Khan, a member of Faizabad Bar Association, said.

Khan is also a member of a 21-member-committee of lawyers formed to plead the case against Rai, Mishra and Rao. “Our delegation also met SSP Ayodhya regarding our demand. But he said that the FIR has not been registered,” he said, adding, “Now we will approach the court and get the FIR lodged against Rai, Mishra and Rao,” he added.

The Faizabad Bar Association, during a general body meeting, had decided not to plead the case of Ram temple accused. It also ordered that if any of its members tried to plead the case of accused’s, they would be fined Rs 5 lakh and terminated from the association.

On July 2, the Faizabad Bar Association lawyers took out a protest march and submitted a complaint seeking an FIR against Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao over alleged embezzlement of donation funds.

Krishna Mohan, another trustee, who was the complainant in the first FIR in the case, has also been named as an accused in the lawyers’ complaint, association president Kalika Prasad Mishra had said.

The lawyers marched from the district court premises to the Ram Janambhoomi police station here before submitting the complaint, demanding that a case be registered and a fair and impartial probe be conducted into the allegations.

The resignations of Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao were accepted by the trust on June 27 after they were linked to the donation theft at the Ram temple.