Puri Gajapati blames Jagannath temple administration for missing keys
Bhubaneswar, June 7: Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb on Thursday blamed the Jagannath temple administration for the missing keys of "Ratna Bhandar" (treasury).
Gajapati, in a letter released to a section of media here, said he failed to understand why he was made responsible for the actions and inactions of the temple administration.
He said that the Odisha government took over the management of Srimandir after the implementation of the Sri Jagannath Temple Act in 1960, which empowered the state government as the supreme authority for ensuring the safety of Ratna Bhandar and safe custody of its keys.
"After the Government of Odisha took over management of Srimandir from my late revered father Gajapati Maharaja Birakishore Deb in 1960 (pursuant to implementation of Shri Jagannath Temple Act,1955), the keys of the Inner Ratna-bhandara have always been in the custody of the government functionaries concerned," said Gajapati.
"After 1960, at no point of time, the Gajapati has been entrusted with the keys of Inner Ratna Bhandar nor has he been involved in any way with the handling of the said keys," he informed.
He said the few times that the Inner Ratna Bhandar had been opened after 1960, the Srimandir Administrator and Puri Collector had been involved with the handling and custody of its keys.
"Since 1960, the Gajapati has been entrusted with the custody of one out of the three keys of outer Ratna Bhandar and his authorised representative attends every opening of outer Ratna Bhandar with the said key, as and when required by the Srimandir Administration," said the Puri Gajapati.
The outer Ratna Bhandar could not be opened unless all the three custodians of the keys -- representative of the Gajapati, Srimandir Administrator and Sri Mandir Bhandar-Mekapa -- were present with the keys in their respective custodies, he informed.
"I am surprised to learn that views have been expressed recently in both electronic and print media raising questions about the role and responsibility of the Gajapati regarding safe custody of the keys of Inner Ratna Bhandar, especially having regard to his position as Chairman of the Srimandir Managing Committee," said Gajapati.
The controversy erupted after the keys of inner Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple were reported to be missing.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appointed Justice Raghubir Dash, a retired Orissa High Court judge, to inquire into the circumstances leading to non-availability of the keys of Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple in Puri.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
