Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], June 16 : Parmarth Niketan Ashram president Swami Chidanand Saraswati on Tuesday welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations related to offerings made for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, asserting that discussions on the issue should be based on facts and not rumours.
Reacting to allegations of the temple's missing donations, Chidanand said he was pleased that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had acted swiftly by ordering an SIT probe into the issue.
"There are many rumours regarding the offerings for the Lord Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya, but I am happy that the Chief Minister of the state, Yogi Adityanath, has taken immediate action and formed an SIT and a decision will be taken very soon," he told ANI.
He stressed that public discussion and scrutiny regarding Ayodhya and the Ram Mandir were important, but should be fact-based.
"There should be discussion on Ayodhya and the Shri Ram Temple, questions should be raised, but it should be based on facts, not rumours," he added.
His remarks come amid discussions surrounding 'missing donations' allegations made for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
On June 14, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged scam involving offerings made at the Ram Mandir, following a request from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Trust.
The SIT comprises Vijay Vishwas Pant, IAS, Divisional Commissioner, Lucknow; Kiran S, IPS, IG (Range); and Neel Ratan, Special Secretary, Finance.
The committee has been directed to submit its preliminary and final reports as soon as possible.
Earlier on June 12, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut held the BJP governments in the Centre and UP responsible for the alleged misappropriation of funds worth Rs 7 crore from offerings made at the Ayodhya Ram Temple.
The controversy stems from allegations levelled by Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Pawan Pandey, former MLA from Ayodhya, who claimed that between Rs 7 crore and Rs 7.5 crore in donations had been swindled.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had demanded an impartial investigation into the matter while alleging that the silence of the UP government was suspicious. He had urged the judiciary to take cognisance of the situation and called on the temple administration to make relevant CCTV footage public.
However, on June 8, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust member, Mahant Dinendra Das Maharaj, refuted Akhilesh Yadav's allegations that crores in temple donations were missing.
Das stressed that all transactions are properly recorded and processed transparently.