Uttar Pradesh is set to place the names of three senior IPS officers before the Supreme Court for a new SIT in the Ayodhya temple donation case. The move follows the court’s insistence on a team that conducts the probe itself rather than merely supervising it.
The Uttar Pradesh government is set to submit a panel of three senior IPS officers before the Supreme Court on Monday for the constitution of a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged theft and misappropriation of donations at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya.
The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing before the apex court, which had earlier directed the state government to constitute an SIT headed by a senior IPS officer to ensure an independent and effective investigation into the alleged embezzlement of devotees’ donations.
According to sources, the state government is likely to propose the names of Inspector General (IG), Lucknow Range, Kiran S, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Ayodhya Range, Somen Verma, and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ayodhya, Gaurav Grover for the new SIT. The proposed team is expected to function under the leadership of IG Kiran S and submit its findings to the Supreme Court.
The proposed panel marks a change from the existing SIT. Earlier, the committee included Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant and Special Secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan Kumar. Under the revised proposal, the two civil officers have been replaced by senior IPS officers in line with the Supreme Court’s observations.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a batch of petitions on July 20 seeking a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation into the alleged embezzlement, had questioned whether the existing SIT was directly investigating the case.
Responding to the Bench, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, had informed the court that the investigation was being carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Police, while the SIT was only supervising the probe.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the arrangement, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant directed the state government to obtain instructions on constituting an SIT that would itself conduct the investigation. The Bench suggested that the team be headed by a senior IPS officer, such as the IG of the Lucknow Range, who was already a member of the existing SIT.
The matter is being heard by a bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohan in a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the alleged embezzlement of donations made by devotees at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple.
