Suspended employee of Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee arrested for donation ‘irregularities’

Uttarakhand Police arrested suspended BKTC employee Pramod Nautiyal over alleged irregularities in handling donations at the Badrinath temple. Separate inquiries by the temple committee and state government are underway after social media allegations prompted an FIR and formal investigation

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Police has arrested Pramod Nautiyal, the accused in the alleged irregularities in the handling of donations at the Badrinath temple, from his residence here, police said on Monday.

Nautiyal was arrested on Sunday night by the Chamoli Police and taken to Badrinath, where he is currently being questioned, Senior Superintendent of Police, Chamoli, Surjit Singh Panwar said.

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Nautiyal is a suspended employee of the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) An FIR was lodged late Tuesday night against Nautiyal, who served as the Personal Assistant to the BKTC chairman, police said.

The BKTC’s four-member inquiry committee had found the allegations of irregularities in donation management against Nautiyal to be prima facie true.

The BKTC is a statutory body which manages the Badrinath temple and other shrines in Uttarakhand.

The Uttarakhand government had also constituted its own three-member probe committee last week.

The Garhwal division commissioner is the chairperson of the committee, which will submit its findings and recommendations to the state government.

The issue gained attention after allegations of irregularities during the counting of donations at the Badrinath temple surfaced on social media. Subsequently, an organisation named ‘Bhairav Sena’ lodged a complaint, demanding an inquiry and the registration of an FIR in the matter.