'The Sky Won't Fall...': SC Refuses Urgent Hearing On Plea Seeking CBI Probe Into Ram Mandir Donation Theft Case

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to urgently hear a petition seeking an impartial and time-bound investigation into the Ram Mandir donation theft case. The court added the case would be scheduled for hearing after the summer vacation. The court orally remarked, "The sky won't fall, so why rush into it?"

A plea was filed before a bench of Justices MM Sundaresh and Sheel Nagu by advocates Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav on Monday, seeking early hearing.

The petition sought a CBI-led multidisciplinary special investigation team (SIT) probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the functioning and administration of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

It also sought directions to establish and implement a regulatory, supervisory, and audit system necessary to protect the public interest and maintain the trust of millions of devotees and donors.

No urgent hearing on plea seeking preservation of digital evidence

Another petition has also been filed in this case by another lawyer, Narendra Kumar Goswami, demanding preservation of digital evidence.

Narendra Goswami also mentioned his petition on Monday, requesting the court to expedite a hearing on the issue of preserving digital evidence. However, the court did not order an expedited hearing on that petition either. The petition was not on the mentioning list, so the court asked the petitioner to follow the mentioning process.

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Narendra Goswami's petition sought the offerings made by devotees to Ram Lalla Virajman at the Raj Janmabhoomi temple, including cash, gold, silver, jewellery, valuables and digital donations, to be declared the property of the sacred trust, which should be managed in a transparent, accountable and trustworthy manner.

The petition demanded that all CCTV, DVR, NVR footage, hard disk, cloud backup, access log, digital payment log, QR, UPI payment gateway records, hundi opening register, donation counting sheet, bank deposit slip, reconciliation record, vault access register, inventory record, and all documents related to donations and offerings from the inception of the trust till date should be immediately preserved.

It also demands that the Uttar Pradesh State Special Investigation Team (SIT) be directed to submit its investigation report to the court in a sealed envelope.

Goswami, in his petition, also demanded that if the court distrusts the ongoing investigation, it should order an investigation by the CBI or an independent SIT under court supervision.

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So far, eight people have been arrested in the alleged embezzlement case, including Tinnu Yadav, Anukalp Mishra and others.

The action was taken after the SIT formed by the Uttar Pradesh government found serious irregularities in donation management, misappropriation of donations and negligence.