Ram Temple donation row: UP SIT submits sealed status report in SC ahead of Monday hearing

The Uttar Pradesh government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) has submitted its status report in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court regarding alleged financial irregularities in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. Petitioners seek a court-monitored probe, preservation of donation records, and in some cases, transfer of the investigation to the CBI.

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has filed its status report in a sealed cover before the Supreme Court, which is slated to hear on Monday a batch of petitions seeking 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.

As per the causelist uploaded on the apex court’s official website, the clutch of petitions is scheduled to be heard on July 20 by a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.

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The petitions include a writ petition filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, a criminal writ petition filed by petitioner-in-person Ajay Kumar Rai, a separate plea moved by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, and another petition filed by Hindu Dharma Parishad.

Earlier, while issuing notice in the matter, the CJI Kant-led Bench had directed the SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to place its status report before the apex court. “Since it is averred in some of the writ petitions that some FIRs have already been registered and an SIT has been constituted to investigate the matter, we direct the SIT constituted by the State of Uttar Pradesh to submit a status report before this Court. The status report shall also give full particulars of the composition of SIT,” the top court had ordered on July 13.

Appearing for the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government during the previous hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had informed the CJI Kant-led Bench that the SIT’s status report would be placed before the apex court in a sealed cover. When the petitioners requested that a copy of the status report also be furnished to them, SG Mehta opposed the plea, saying the investigation was still in progress.

Declining the request at that stage, the CJI Kant-led Bench had observed: “We will see later. It’s an ongoing investigation. You know the law. We have passed an order.”

The petitions seek a court-monitored investigation into the alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

The plea filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami seeks preservation of records and evidence relating to donations made at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and greater transparency in the administration of temple offerings.

In a separate petition, RJD MP Sudhakar Singh has sought transfer of the ongoing investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. His petition also seeks the appointment of a temporary court-monitored oversight committee, preservation of financial records, a comprehensive forensic audit, and publication of audited financial statements and donation logs on the Trust’s official website.