Former Samajwadi Party(SP) MLA from Ayodhya, Pawan Pandey and Sanjay Singh, Rajya Sabha MP of Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) in press conferences that happened almost simultaneously accused The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust of pulling off an illicit land deal.
According to the two politicians, a small stretch of land that was purchased for the temple complex was part of a registered agreement for ₹ 2 crores.
But within minutes the same land was sold by two real estate dealers(Sultan Ahmed and Ravi Mohan Tiwari) to the trust for ₹ 18.5 crores.
This trust was set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last year in February to regulate the construction of the Ram Mandir based on SC’s verdict.
12 of the 15 members of this Trust were nominated by the Centre and the Trust was awarded around 70 acres of land in the ruling.
Mr. Pandey in the conference held in Ayodhya showed some documents that allegedly proved that the original price of this land was ₹ 5.79 crores, but the selling price of the property was only ₹ 2 crore.
The stamp duty for this property was done in two installments and the time for this purchase was specified as 5:22 p.m. on 18 March 2021.
On the same day, another agreement was done, which listed the trust as the buyer of the property and Sultan Ansari as the owner.
The land was sold for ₹ 18.50 crore and the time listed on stamp paper for this transaction was 5:11 p.m. of the same day.
Out of these ₹ 18.50 crores, 17 crores were transferred to the main owner Sultan Ahmed and Ravi Mohan Tiwari through RTGS. All of this happened in a quick period, said the AAP leader.
He further quoted that the trust purchased the stamp duty of ₹ 1,29,49,860 at least 10 minutes earlier than the stamp duty purchased for the first deal.
“It is clearly a case of money laundering in which a property which had a market value of ₹ 5.80 crores was first purchased for just ₹ 2 crores and then it was sold at ₹ 18.50 crore.
The PM should punish the guilty people so that the faith of the people in Lord Ram remains,” he said.
Rishikesh Upadhyay, Mayor, Ayodhya, and Anil Kumar Mishra, members of the trust, were both witnesses to the agreements.
Pandey said, “It appears that the trust and the mayor were in full knowledge of this fraud. The money given for the temple comes from crores of Hindus. It cannot be used Fraudulently.”
He further said, “Crores of people made donations to the Ram Mandir Trust. They dug into their savings to donate.
If this is what you do with their money, then this is an insult to the 120 crore people of the county.”
Both the politicians are in favor of an Enforcement Directorate(ED) and The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) probe to punish the accomplices responsible for the fraud.
However, amidst all this, the trust has subtly remained silent and dismissed all the allegations as unworthy of commenting on.
VHP leader Champat Rai, who is also the secretary of the trust said, “All kinds of allegations have been made over a century.
Some also blamed us for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. We do not worry about such allegations. You should not either.”
When further asked to comment back on the allegations, he said, “No. We will study it.”
Ram Mandir has often been a very sensitive topic in the state’s politics.
The UP legislative Assembly polls are expected to be held in early 2022, at such times this issue can turn into a very controversial matter for the government.
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