Unfortunate that saints, seers will be probed by officials: Akhilesh on Ram temple donation row

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticized the Yogi Adityanath government's decision to form an SIT to investigate alleged donation irregularities at the Ram temple, stating that allowing government officials to investigate saints and seers is unfortunate for Sanatan Dharma

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said it was a matter of misfortune that “officials” will investigate alleged swindling of the donation money at the Ram Temple.

The Yogi Adityanath government on Saturday constituted an SIT to probe alleged irregularities in donations and financial management of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

---

Responding to a reporter’s query in Agra, Yadav said, “After the alleged theft of offerings, it is unfortunate that officials will investigate people associated with our religion and temple … Will officials investigate those who are advancing our religion? What could be a greater misfortune for Sanatan Dharma than this?”

Yadav added, “If something has happened with the offerings made to Lord Ram, then switch off the cameras and discuss it among yourselves. Return whatever offering was stolen and Lord Ram will forgive you.”

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that officials investigating saints and seers is unacceptable to the followers of Sanatan Dharma.

On Saturday, in a cryptic post on X, Yadav suggested that one need not go far to unravel the malfeasance at the temple.

“The root of this conspiracy is not far away. Therefore, there will be no need to go far to take action if the truth is to be uncovered … If the police are unable to identify the guilty, we can help,” he wrote.

According to officials, the SIT was formed after the trust sought an impartial probe to “check misinformation and bring out the truth” and alleged that attempts were being made to tarnish the image of the Ram temple.

The SIT comprises Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police Kiran S, and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan.

Yadav had earlier cited reports to claim that crores of rupees from donations made to the Ram temple were missing and urged courts to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.

Responding to the allegation, trust general secretary Champat Rai said internal audits were underway and no evidence supporting the claims had emerged as yet.

He said representatives of the trust and the State Bank of India were involved in periodic audits and that nothing noteworthy had been found during the ongoing exercise.

The issue escalated when former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh claimed that he was aware of alleged misuse of donations but declined to reveal details, while BJP leader Rajneesh Singh wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking public disclosure of the trust’s finances, assets, donations, expenditures, bank accounts and land transactions.