AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal attacked PM Modi over the Ram Mandir donation theft case, calling him 'Dhritarashtra' and alleging he tried to cover up the matter. He cited land irregularities and claimed the SIT probe was a way to mislead the public.
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's alleged role in the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple donation theft case, calling him "Dhritarashtra" and claiming that the "sequence of events suggests that he left no stone unturned to hush up the matter".
Addressing mediapersons, Kejriwal said, "Will influential people be arrested in the donation theft case? I cannot say that the money reached Prime Minister Modi, but the sequence of events suggests that he left no stone unturned to hush up the matter. The Prime Minister set up the trust, his own people are part of it, and Champat Rai is considered one of his close associates."
This comes amid the ongoing controversy regarding the alleged misappropriation of Ram Mandir donations. The controversy began after an FIR was registered on June 25 over the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. The Trust has maintained that it is committed to a fair investigation and to preserving the faith of devotees.
AAP chief alleges land purchase irregularities
Citing land transactions, the AAP chief alleged large-scale irregularities in purchases made by the trust. "A Pathak family sold a piece of land worth Rs 2 crore to a person associated with their party. Within 10 minutes, that same person sold the land to the trust for Rs 18 crore. Similarly, land worth Rs 9 crore was sold for Rs 55 crore. In total, the trust purchased land worth Rs 14 crore for Rs 95 crore," Kejriwal alleged.
"Did the Prime Minister not know about this? These are not classified documents; people are carrying these papers around, and all these documents are available in the public domain," he added.
Kejriwal further alleged that engineers involved had claimed they were asked to pay commissions of up to 40 per cent. He further alleged that months of footage have been deleted. "In 40 days, theft was reportedly captured on CCTV cameras 70 times. CCTV footage covering the last eight months was deleted. A Home Department official from the government was also part of that trust. Even then, you claim you were unaware of it?" he said.
'PM remained like Dhritarashtra': Kejriwal
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi "Dhritarashtra," the blind king from the Indian epic Mahabharata, Kejriwal claimed that although the Intelligence Bureau had informed the Prime Minister, he did not take any action.
"The Prime Minister knows which polling booth across the country should have whose vote removed, but he was unaware of alleged theft that continued for such a long period? We have learned from sources that the Intelligence Bureau informed the Prime Minister several times, but he remained like Dhritarashtra. You kept a blindfold on, and only when the situation became untenable, when the water rose above your head and the issue gained significant traction, you set up an SIT merely to pull the wool over people's eyes," Kejriwal said.
SIT formed to 'mislead public'
Kejriwal alleged that an SIT was constituted "without an FIR" to mislead the public. "How can an SIT be formed without an FIR? At that point, no FIR had even been registered. An SIT simply cannot exist without an FIR. You constituted an SIT solely to deceive the public, after which eight innocent people were arrested. The people who resigned are still running the temple today. One of their senior leaders, Brij Bhushan, has said that if he speaks out, big names will be exposed. Baba Bageshwar has also said that if he speaks, his life could be in danger. This indicates that the arrest of those eight people was merely to mislead the public. In other words, the Prime Minister is protecting influential people," he claimed.
Targeting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he said, "Yogi ji calls himself the 'Bulldozer Man.' Then why has no action been taken in this case? Champat Rai is being protected because they fear that if he speaks, the names of powerful people will come out."
Investigation updates
Meanwhile, the hearing for the Uttar Pradesh police's application demanding the remand of Avinash Shukla, one of the key accused in the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple donation theft case, is scheduled to be held on Thursday.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged Ram Mandir donation case has been granted a 15-day extension to complete its investigation. The extension has been given to enable the SIT to widen the scope of its probe and conduct a comprehensive inquiry into all aspects of the case. The investigation will be expanded further to ensure that every angle is thoroughly examined and that no guilty person is spared.
According to officials, 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 are: Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Tinnu Yadav, Manish Yadav and others.
This comes after allegations were made by former SP MLA from Ayodhya, Pawan Pandey, who claimed that between Rs 7 crore and Rs 7.5 crore in donations were misappropriated from the Ram Mandir.
On June 29, an Ayodhya court remanded all the accused in the alleged donation embezzlement case to 14-day judicial custody following an intensive investigation into alleged financial irregularities involving temple donations.
Earlier, former Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra resigned, taking moral responsibility for the controversy. Police have since recorded Champat Rai's statement, while statements of other senior Trust office-bearers, including Anil Mishra, may be recorded if required during the course of the investigation. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)