Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Tej Narayan Pandey on Sunday has alleged that Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has committed corruption in a land deal in Ayodhya. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claim the transaction happened in March this year and sought a CBI probe into the matter as it concerns religious sentiments of crores of Indians.
The land which is 12,080 square metres in the area is located in Ayodhya’s Vijeshwar area. According to the allegations, the deal involved two real estate dealers buying a property from an individual for ₹ 2 crores and selling it minutes later to the Trust for ₹ 18.5 crores.
The temple body swiped the charges calling it a joke.
“The piece of land was earlier purchased for Rs 2 crores by Ravi Mohan Tiwari and Sultan Ansari. 10 minutes later, the Trust bought the land for Rs 18.5 crores on March 18,” Pandey said at a press conference on Sunday.
The SP leaders also alleged that Rs 17 crore was deposited to Ravi Mohan Tiwari and Sultan Ansari’s bank account by RTGS mode of payment and demanded an investigation relating to the RTGS money transfer.
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According to Pandey, Trust member Anil Mishra and Mayor of Ayodhya Rishikesh Upadhyay are witnesses in both the sale agreements. He showed documents that are evidence that a property located next to Ram Janmabhoomi site was sold at huge profits. The shown documents had stamp duty papers of both transactions.
"What gold did this property throw up that its price went from ₹ 2 crores to ₹ 18 crores-plus in a matter of minutes? This means loot to the tune of ₹ 16.5 crores has taken place. There should be a CBI enquiry," the SP leader alleged.
Mr Pandey further added, "Crores of people gave donations to the Ram Temple Trust. They dug into their savings to donate. If this is what you do to their money, then this is an insult to the 120 crore people of the country.”
Posting several documents relating to the said allegations, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, wrote on Twitter: “Ravi Mohan Tiwari and Sultan Ansari bought land worth Rs 2 crores at 7:10 pm. At 7:15 pm, Champat Rai of Ram Janmabhoomi Trust bought this land from them for Rs 18.5 crores.”
"No one can even imagine there will be corruption in the name of Lord Ram. But these documents show that crores of rupees have been embezzled," Mr Singh added.
Champat Rai is a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and also the General Secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Mr Rai claimed that all transactions by the temple trust are online and transparent, he said: "All kinds of allegations have been made for over a century. Some also blamed us for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. We do not worry about such allegations. You should not either.”
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Minister Narendra Modi in February 2020 had announced the body of ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust’ will supervise the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya after three months of Supreme Court verdict. The trust was provided with about 70 acres of land in the ruling and 12 of its 15 members are nominated by the centre.