What Sparked the Row
For some time now, a claim had been gaining traction around the offerings collected in the donation boxes at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya — the suggestion being that money placed by devotees was being pilfered or tampered with. The rumours had begun to heat up the atmosphere. Rather than brush the sensitive matter aside, the Uttar Pradesh administration has chosen to deal with it head-on and with a notably firm hand.
Trust Sought a Probe, Government Cleared It at Once
It was the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust that stepped forward and asked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for an SIT investigation into the entire episode. The government wasted no time and approved the request immediately. The intent is clear — a transparent and swift inquiry that settles the matter conclusively. With that in mind, a powerful Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted.
The team's brief goes beyond merely establishing how much truth there is to the rumours. It will also dig into who exactly is behind spreading this propaganda and what their motive is.
The Three Officers on the SIT
The administration has handed the inquiry to some of the state's most experienced and no-nonsense officers. The three-member team comprises:
- Vijay Vishwas Pant (IAS – Chairman): Currently the Divisional Commissioner of Lucknow, he will chair the entire investigation committee.
- Kiran S (IPS): As the Inspector General of Police, Range, he will handle the criminal dimension of the case, the security arrangements and the policing angle of the social-media rumours.
- Neel Ratan (Special Secretary, Finance): In his capacity as Special Secretary (Finance), he will closely examine the temple's audit, the donation-box counting process and the technical aspects of the financial transactions.
The Truth to Emerge in 15 Days
The three officers have been given distinct lanes — administrative, policing and financial — so that every link in the chain, from the counting of offerings to those allegedly spreading the rumours, can be examined simultaneously. The SIT has been asked to submit its report within 15 days, meaning it is within this window that it will become clear how much of the suspicion around the donation-box money holds up and how much of it is baseless.
