Ayodhya, June 26 (IANS) Days after alleged misappropriation of funds at the Ram Temple stirred a national controversy, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust chief Champat Rai and Trust member Anil Mishra stepped down from their positions, credible sources said.

According to information shared by the UP government’s Director of Information, both the key Trust members have resigned from their positions. Both are understood to have stepped down on moral grounds.

The development comes as a major fallout of the donation controversy at the Ram Temple, which came as a shock to crores of devotees. According to reports, offerings and valuables worth hundreds of crores were misappropriated by the temple staff in connivance with bank officials.

As the temple trust is entrusted with the task of monitoring day-to-day operations and overseeing the management of chadhava (offerings) to Lord Ram, this comes as fixing accountability for the grave wrongdoings that went unchecked at the temple.

The resignations come on the back of mounting scrutiny and demand for the sacking of officials after the preliminary findings submitted by SIT, which flagged lapses in the handling of donations offered by devotees at the Ram Temple.

Last night, an FIR was also lodged against eight individuals, including the temple attendants, counting staff and former bank officials who allegedly acted in collusion to siphon off the temple funds.

All the accused named in the FIR were arrested and put behind bars.

The arrested accused include Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu.

The filing of an FIR, however, failed to placate those demanding accountability in the alleged theft. After the FIR was filed, many also questioned why only the lower-level individuals were made ‘scapegoats’ while senior figures escaped accountability.

Earlier, on June 14, the state government had constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged irregularities in the donation after a request from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Trust.

–IANS

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