Ram Temple donation row: Personal requests, factionalism behind Champat Rai's resignation? What we know so far

As the probe into the Ram Temple donation row continues, reports have revealed that personal requests were another major reason behind the resignation of key Trust officials.

This comes a day after Rai, a senior RSS pracharak (functionary) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, was one among the two high-profile faces to resign from the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Rai, who had already denied earlier accusations of shielding the accused, was virtually left with no option but to resign on "moral grounds", after the recovery of about Rs 80 lakh from the accused, despite his statement about internal audits going on that had not found anything wrong.

As per a Live Hindustan report, the general secretary's resignation will be discussed at the next executive meeting of the Trust, which will decide a further course of action, parallel to the SIT probe.

In light of his resignation, the spotlight has fallen on how far back Rai's role in the scam allegedly goes.

Back in 2020, the Trust came under fire over its multiple purchases of land in 2020, due to allegations of the land prices being inflated, such as a Rs 2 crore piece of land being purchased for Rs 18 crore, or a Rs 20 lakh piece of land being purchased for Rs 2.5 crore.

The report links the failure of internal inquiry committee, in finding any conclusive evidence of foul play by the Trust at the time, to Rai's power at the top of the Trust's hierarchy.

It adds that Rai used this power to put in special requests that eventually led to the rise of Dr Anil Mishra, another trustee, and Gopal Rao, an invited member, within the ranks of the Trust.

This reportedly led to factionalism, which worsened after Mishra and Rao appointed their own people in key roles linked with donations at the temple, such as counting and pass arrangements.

Over time, as the influence of both Mishra and Ram Shankar "Tinnu" Yadav on the workings of the temple grew, so did the internal tensions, eventually paving the way for the Rs 7-7.5 crore scam that has brought down Rai and Mishra so far, in addition to the arrests of the eight accused in the case.

The Sunday raids on the homes of the eight accused—Vinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Tinnu Yadav—come two days after a court remanded all eight accused to judicial custody until June 29.

The police are expected to seek their custodial remand when the eight are produced before the court on Monday.