"Hurting people's faith is a serious matter": Congress's Mumtaz Patel on Ram Mandir donation row

Speaking to ANI, Patel said, "... I understand vote politics, even vote theft, and also politics in the name of Ram. But hurting people's faith is a serious matter. The donations were given with devotion for the Ram Mandir. It is deeply concerning..."

Earlier, on Friday, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and member trustee Anil Mishra resigned, taking moral responsibility for the alleged embezzlement of Ram Mandir donations.

The case has been filed under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61 and 3(5), on the directions of the Uttar Pradesh Government.

Those who have been named in the FIR include Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Tinnu Yadav, Manish Yadav and others. This action followed allegations by former SP MLA from Ayodhya, Pawan Pandey, who claimed that between Rs 27 crore and Rs 7.5 crore in donations were allegedly misappropriated from the Ram Mandir.

In response to these allegations, the state government constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) on June 14 to probe the alleged scam, acting on a request from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

A court in Ayodhya on Friday sent eight accused to judicial custody till June 29 in the alleged Ram Mandir donation embezzlement case.

The accused were produced before the local court after being arrested.

KC Verma, Prosecution Officer at the Ayodhya Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court, told reporters that all eight accused had been remanded to judicial custody till Monday and would be produced before the court again on June 29.

"In total, Rs 79,85,493 was recovered from them, except for one accused, Subhash. Nothing was recovered from him, though he was involved in the conspiracy. Different amounts were recovered from the others," he said. (ANI)