Sanjay Raut slams Ram Temple Trust over allegations of financial misappropriation

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 14 : A day after Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Tej Narayan Pandey accused Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust of committing corruption in a land deal, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said that the accusations have hurt the sentiments of people.
Speaking to the media personnel here, Raut said, "The trust has been given all the rights regarding the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the devotees of Lord Ram across the world have donated to the trust. Even Shiv Sena had also donated for the construction of the Ram Temple."
"We believed in the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust that there will be no corruption in the construction of the temple in Ayodhya. The accusations of the corruption in a land deal of the temple have hurt our beliefs and sentiments," the Shiv Sena MP said.
"The head of the trust should come forward and clarify the allegations levelled by the Samajwadi Party," Raut added.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Tej Narayan Pandey on Sunday accused Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust of committing corruption in a land deal and sought a CBI probe into the matter.
Holding a press conference on Sunday, Pandey said, "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."
The SP leader also claimed that Rs 17 crore was sent to the bank account of Ravi Mohan Tiwari and Sultan Ansari through RTGS mode of payment and demanded a probe into the RTGS money transfer.
Refuting the allegations of fraud in purchasing land worth at an inflated price for the Ram temple premises, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai termed the charges as "misleading and motivated by political hatred".
In February 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the constitution of 'Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust' which would oversee the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, nearly three months after the Supreme Court ruling in the decades-old case.
In November 2019, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had ruled unanimously in favour of Ram Lalla. It said the entire disputed land spread over 2.7-acre will be handed over to a trust formed by the government, which will monitor the construction of the Ram temple at the site. The court had asked the government to give 5 acres of land to Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque.