NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the trust running Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir and replacing it with a new body of Sadhu Sants as decided by all Shankracharyas, a retired judge of Supreme Court and a representative of the Nirmohi Akhara.
Former MP and Congress spokesman Shaktisinh Gohil told a press conference that Prime Minister Modi can not escape the responsibility as he had picked up members of the trust and yet he is silent since after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Ayodhya Police probed the thefts of money and jewelleries from the temple offerings.
He also sought an apology from PM Modi for picking up wrong persons like Champat rai to run the temple. He also demanded that the probe should be conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
In reply to a question on Champat Rai, who quit as the general secretary of the trust and said he would speak out after the SIT probing the case gives its final report, Gohil said it shows that Champat rai has full confidence in the Prime Minister that the SIT will spare him and that is why the Congress wants that the probe should be conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court either by CBI or a new SIT.
He said Champat Rai will remain behind the bars if such a probe is ordered. He said Rai should be arrested immediately. He quoted Rai claiming that he had given the temple strong room’s keys to his driver.
Gohil said there used to be cash donations of Rs 16-18 lakh per day before the FIR was registered by the SIT while it shot up to Rs 26 lakh a day on an average showing that there wsa theft of Rs 10 lakh every day. He said this has come out in the SIT’s interim report.
He also disclosed how Mahant Lal Das, who was the main pujari of the temple, was removed and he was later killed. He said it only shows that in the name of religion, a very big criminal mind is in play. He said a similar modus was applied to first remove former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya as MLA and then he was murdered.
