The Supreme Court on Monday closed its monitoring of the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya after the Uttar Pradesh government informed it that a comprehensive charge sheet had been filed against eight accused.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana directed the judicial magistrate to proceed with the trial in accordance with the law, granting petitioners liberty to assist the court given the public interest involved.
The order came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had completed its probe, filing a 60,000-page charge sheet before the anti-corruption court in Ayodhya.
Mehta revealed that the theft occurred during donation counting, with embezzled funds traced back to bank accounts and property purchases. He emphasised that a thorough forensic audit confirmed all artefacts and donations were fully accounted for.
The second SIT, constituted in July under Inspector General of police Kiran S, identified 105 instances of unauthorised cash removal during counting.
Investigators physically verified 889 valuable articles, finding no discrepancies, alongside verifying nearly 944.4 kg of silver sent for melting. The apex court expressed no opinion on the merits of the allegations, leaving the trial proceedings to the local court.
