Ayodhya:
Under fire over the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust will hold a key meeting on July 6. The trust has called an emergency meeting of all its trustees.
According to sources, a final decision on the resignations of General Secretary Champat Rai and Trustee Dr Anil Mishra will be taken at the meeting.
Champat Rai and Anil Mishra resigned from their posts on June 27 after the donation theft case surfaced.
Voting As Per Bylaws
Trust members will vote on the resignations. Under the trust’s bylaws, a two-thirds majority is required to accept the resignation of any official. The bylaws state an office-bearer can only be relieved of their post and responsibilities but will remain a member of the trust.
Even if the resignations are accepted, Champat Rai and Anil Mishra will be removed from their posts only. Both will remain life members of the trust. The same provision applies to other office-bearers.
Trust bylaws say that trustees will be lifelong members
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Currently, two of the trust’s 14 members have resigned. As a result, the opinion of 12 trustees will be taken via voting at the meeting.
Bar Association Seeks FIR
Meanwhile, troubles are mounting for the former trust officials. The Faizabad Bar Association has come out openly against the trust members, demanding registration of a case against Champat Rai, Dr. Anil Mishra, and Gopal Rao in the Ram Temple matter.
Champat Rai was general secretary of the trust, Anil Mishra is a trustee, and Gopal Rao is the temple construction in-charge.
A delegation of lawyers is likely to visit the Ram Janmabhoomi police station today to demand an FIR against the three office-bearers. They said if police do not name them in the FIR, they will move court with a petition seeking registration of the case.
Champat Rai Blames Driver
According to sources, Champat Rai has told his close aides that Tinnu Yadav is the main character in the donation theft case. Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav was also Champat Rai’s driver.
People close to Champat Rai said he admitted that Tinnu Yadav is the key figure behind the entire scam. “Tinnu Yadav took advantage of his trust to carry out the fraud,” Rai has told people close to him. According to Rai, when Yadav was about to get caught, he leaked information to a Samajwadi leader, sources said.
Tinnu Yadav is one of the eight accused arrested by the police in the donation theft case. The others are Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, and Subhash Srivastava.
