Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal raised sharp questions over alleged scams tied to the Ram Mandir during a press conference in Goa on Friday. Taking direct aim at the Prime Minister, he asked why the powerful people behind the alleged donation theft at the Ram Mandir were being protected. Kejriwal claimed that the purchase of land for the temple's construction involved a scam worth crores of rupees, that a 40 percent commission was taken on every construction tender, and that even the offerings made at the temple were stolen. He went on to call both the SIT formed to investigate the matter and the FIR filed in the case fake, describing the entire episode as a drama.
Goa's devotees left hurt by the allegations
Kejriwal said that people in Goa are deeply religious by nature. When construction of the Ram Mandir began, there was tremendous enthusiasm among the people. Hindus in Goa had donated generously for the temple's construction, giving with full devotion and open hearts. But he said the situation has changed completely since then. A steady stream of reports about scams at the temple has left devotees across Goa deeply hurt, with their religious sentiments badly wounded, since they had offered their hard earned money at the feet of Lord Ram, and news of that very money being stolen is now troubling them.
Kejriwal alleged that a necklace belonging to Lord Ram has been stolen, along with the deity's sandals and precious ornaments. Devotees had offered diamonds and jewels out of devotion, and all of those valuable items have gone missing. He further claimed that a devotee had donated 200 kilograms of silver bricks to the temple, and those heavy silver bricks have also disappeared, along with silver lamps from the temple. Kejriwal also alleged that around Rs 200 crore in cash has reportedly been stolen from the temple. He said fresh details keep emerging every day, further hurting people's faith.
A land scam that Kejriwal says goes back to 2021
Kejriwal also went into detail about the alleged land scam. He said the theft did not begin recently but has been going on since 2021, when large scale irregularities in land purchases first occurred. He said crores and crores of rupees were collected from across the country in the name of temple construction, and questioned exactly how such a large sum was siphoned off. As the biggest example, he cited the case of a Pathak family in Ayodhya. The family owned a piece of land in Ayodhya, which they sold to a leader of a party for Rs 2 crore. What happened next, Kejriwal said, was startling, within just 10 minutes, that same leader sold the very same land to the temple trust for Rs 18 crore.
Kejriwal described this as a direct theft of donation money. According to him, around Rs 16 crore of the donations people gave for the temple's construction was siphoned off through this very deal, and the matter had received considerable media attention at the time. He said this was not an isolated deal, several other similar land transactions also took place. He said the temple trust bought another plot of land worth Rs 3 crore for Rs 24 crore. In another instance, land worth Rs 9 crore was purchased for Rs 55 crore. Similarly, land worth Rs 14 crore was bought for Rs 95 crore. Kejriwal claimed documents for all these deals are publicly available, and that these people committed a massive scam by buying land worth Re 1 for Rs 10, badly siphoning off the donations collected for the Ram Mandir's construction.
40 percent commission on construction, and what the CCTV footage shows
Kejriwal did not stop at questioning the land deals, he also made serious corruption allegations about the temple's construction work. According to him, irregularities crept in right from when construction of the Ram Mandir began. He claimed that engineers themselves have testified on record that a 40 percent commission was taken on every tender related to the temple's construction. He said it is also emerging that offerings made at the temple were being stolen on a large scale.
Kejriwal cited CCTV camera footage during the press conference. He said the footage has revealed several shocking facts. It has emerged that theft occurred 70 times within just 40 days, and he said solid evidence of this exists, with people clearly visible on CCTV cameras committing the thefts. Kejriwal alleged that in order to hide their crime, those involved also tried to destroy evidence, and about 8 months of CCTV footage was deleted from the system. He said whatever theft has come to light so far is completely inadequate, calling it just a small glimpse, adding that the actual scale of the theft is still unknown and the full truth is yet to come out.
Direct attack on the PM, questions over the trust's formation
Kejriwal directly targeted the Prime Minister during his press conference, asking how such a massive scam went unnoticed by him. He alleged that the Prime Minister himself had formed the Ram Mandir Trust and personally chosen all its members. According to Kejriwal, Champat Rai was made the trust's key authority. He said that now that the scam has come to light, attempts are being made to protect those responsible. Kejriwal dismissed both the resignation that followed and the SIT formed to probe the matter as fake, alleging that the entire thing is nothing but a drama.
Will those behind the alleged donation theft be punished
Kejriwal said that every devotee of Lord Ram today is asking the same question, whether those behind the donation theft will ever be punished and whether the big names involved in the scam will be caught. He said he does not believe that will happen. He alleged that ever since the matter came to light, there have been constant efforts to suppress it, with evidence being destroyed and witnesses being intimidated, while the whole issue is simply being papered over. He also said that television anchors often make big claims on this issue.
