Ayodhya land purchase: Trust must clarify if money collected in name of faith misused: Sanjay Raut
Mumbai, Jun 14: Amid charges of corruption in the land purchased by the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust in Ayodhya, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded "clarification" from the Trust and other leaders, saying the construction of the temple is a matter of faith for the saffron party and the common people.
Talking to reporters here, Raut said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh spoke to him on the issue this morning and the "evidence provided by him is shocking".
"Lord Ram and the fight for the Ram mandir is a matter of faith for us. For some, it is a political matter. The Trust formed for the construction of the temple should clarify if the allegations are true or false. The temple's 'bhoomipujan' ceremony was also attended by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. They should also speak out. Ram temple is a matter of faith. People have made donations out of faith. Even Shiv Sena had contributed Rs one crore to the Trust," Raut said.
If the money collected out of faith is misused then what is the use of having faith? he asked.
"We need to know what is happening. We need to know whether the allegations are true or false," the Sena leader said.
The allegation that the land worth Rs 2 crore was bought at an inflated price of Rs 18.5 crore by Shriram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai for the Ram temple premises was made by AAP's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh and a former minister in the Samajwadi Party government, Pawan Pandey. The allegation was strongly refuted by Rai.
Terming it a case of money laundering, Singh and Pandey had sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
Raut said the members of the Trust were appointed by the BJP. "Representatives of organizations like the Shiv Sena should have been included in the body as the Sena had participated in the agitation for the construction of the Lord Ram's temple...That was our earlier demand ".
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2 drown, 4 missing after boat capsizes in Yamuna in UP's Hamirpur
Hamirpur (UP) (PTI): Two persons, including a child, drowned and four went missing went missing after a boat capsized in the Yamuna river here, police said on Thursday.
They said the incident took place on Wednesday evening in Kutubpur Patiya hamlet under Bhauli gram panchayat in the Kurara police station area when nine people, not including the boatman, were returning from a river island.
According to police, the boat lost balance in the middle of the river and capsized around 7 pm.
The boatman, Dheeru, managed to rescue three people -- Vishnu, Rinku and Parul.
The remaining six --five children and a woman-- Akanksha (9), Rani (9), Brijrani (25), Labhyansh (5), Mahesh (6), and Aditya (11) -- went missing, police said.
Later on Thursday, rescue teams recovered the bodies of Akanksha and Brijrani (25.
SHO, Brijesh Kumar said that due to heavy rain since the morning, teams are facing difficulties in rescue operation.
District Magistrate Abhishek Goyal said a search for the missing is being conducted by teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.
Taking cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Adityanath has directed the district administration to investigate the cause of the accident and put in place effective measures to prevent such incidents in future.
He has directed senior police and administrative officials to immediately reach the spot and ensure relief and rescue operations on a war footing, an official statement said.
Adityanath has called for rescue efforts to be intensified to trace the missing persons at the earliest and warned that any negligence in the matter would not be tolerated, it added.
The chief minister also instructed senior district officials to personally monitor the rescue operations and ensure all possible assistance to the affected families.
BJP MLA from Hamirpur Manoj Prajapati said attempts are on to trace the missing. "We will ensure compensation to the affected families in accordance with the rules and submit a report to the chief minister on the incident," he said.
