Ayodhya Ram Temple Trust gives a clean chit to land sellers, saying they had sworn by the lord

The Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has given a clean chit to all the controversial land deals that attracted adverse attention last month. The Trust has concluded that the transactions were all carried out in a transparent manner.

“These people (who are accused of land scam) took Ram ki saugandh. Un logo ne Bhagwan Ram ki kasam kha kar kaha ki koi paisa nahi khaya gaya hai. (These people took a vow in the name of Lord Ram that they have not made money in the land deal). What do you want after that. The devotees of Lord Ram cannot take a false pledge,” exclaimed a member of the Trust on Thursday.

After that `saugandh’, the Treasurer of the Trust Swami Govind Giri said that they have not found any lapses in the purchase of land. "The members of the Trust have scrutinised all the papers of the land purchase deal and found nothing wrong," he declared.

He claimed that all the land was purchased by the Trust at less than the market price. The money transitions were clean and were carried out between banks. “Those people who have leveled allegations can help us in getting cheaper land at the same location and the Trust would be obliged to them,” he added, taking a swipe at the critics.

The Trust has not addressed reports that the Ayodhya Mayor’s nephew purchased a plot of land for Rs 20 lakh in February 2021 and sold the same plot to the Trust in May at Rs 2 crore.

The Trust is also yet to come clean on how much land it requires to build the temple and other paraphernalia. Giri has however claimed that more land is needed for the construction of the wall and retaining wall of the temple complex, for extension of sanctum sanctorum etc. but is silent on the area.

The Trust probably knows that it is on a sticky wicket and therefore Giri declared that it (Trust) will not file any defamation case against any individual. “I want to assure everyone that the work on the Shri Ram Temple will continue with full honesty and transparency,” he said.

Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MP Sanjay Singh had filed a police complaint at Ayodhya police station to register FIR over the land purchase scam.

Giri said that for the last 15-20 days many questions had been raised but they were attempts to create confusion among the devotees of Ram. “I assure everyone that they should not be under any illusion. A grand temple of Lord Shri Ram will be built at Ayodhya before time,” he said.