New Delhi, 30 June (H.S.): The Congress on Tuesday demanded that the alleged theft of offerings at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya be investigated under the supervision of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. The party also called for the public release of the report submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the matter.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said that opposition parties had decided during a meeting on June 8 to send a joint letter on the issue.

She alleged that the government and the temple trust were attempting to shield senior office-bearers, while action had been confined only to lower-level employees.

Shrinate claimed that CCTV footage had recorded nearly 70 incidents of alleged theft over a period of just 40 days. She questioned who would account for the donations received over the past five and a half years. She further alleged that the prescribed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for counting and securing temple offerings were not followed and that warnings issued by the State Bank of India (SBI) were ignored.

She demanded that the temple trust be dissolved, First Information Reports (FIRs) be registered against its top office-bearers, an independent audit of all donations received by the temple be conducted, and that the Prime Minister publicly respond to the matter.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar