Allahabad High Court Rejects Plea Seeking CBI Probe Into Ram Mandir Donations

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into allegations of misuse of donations received by the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The court observed that a petition on the same issue is already pending before the Supreme Court and therefore declined to entertain a parallel plea.

The petition was filed before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court by advocate Mohit Ashok. Relying on media reports, the petitioner alleged that some employees associated with the Ram Mandir Trust had misused money collected from donation boxes. He requested the court to direct a time bound CBI investigation and also sought a special audit of the trust accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

A division bench comprising Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla considered the matter. During the hearing, the bench noted that a similar petition seeking an independent investigation had already been filed before the Supreme Court by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh. Since the issue is under consideration by the country’s highest court, the High Court ruled that it was not appropriate to proceed with another petition on the same subject.

Meanwhile, the alleged donation misuse is already being investigated by a Special Investigation Team formed by the Uttar Pradesh government on June 13. The three member SIT, led by Lucknow Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, is continuing its inquiry into the allegations.

Police have reportedly detained four trust employees in connection with the case. Investigators are said to have recovered Rs 5 lakh from a bank account and around Rs 77 lakh in cash during a subsequent search operation. Based on a complaint filed by the Ram Mandir Trust, an FIR has been registered against eight employees, including Ram Shankar Yadav and Manish Yadav, on charges related to cheating and criminal breach of trust.

The Ram Mandir Trust has strongly denied all allegations of financial irregularities. The trust stated that every donation, whether in cash or valuables, is counted under a strict process and securely deposited in the bank in accordance with established procedures.