look news india
Mumbai: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered a probe into alleged irregularities in donations and other valuable gifts at the Tulja Bhawan temple in Dharashiv's Tuljapur between 1991 and 2009.
The court has also directed registration of an FIR, saying the investigation should be conducted by a superintendent-level officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The order was passed on a PIL filed by a charitable trust called Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. The petition has alleged irregularities and fraud in the management of the temple trust during the said period.
The court took note of two investigation reports submitted by the police in 2009. The report said officials allegedly misappropriated cash, gold and other valuables worth Rs 8.46 crore through donation box auctions during the said period.
The government opposed the petition, saying there would be no point in filing an FIR at this stage because so much time had passed. However, the Court cannot be prejudicial to the issue and the Act.
This chapter deals with breach of trust and bad faith and hence requires action under criminal law. The court said, there should be a complete investigation.
According to the petition, the temple trustees have been following the practice of auctioning donation boxes since 1984. Which was closed in September 1991. However, between 1991 and 2009, this practice was resumed without any reason.
During this time, the Ascension in the temple has been greatly exaggerated. It is claimed that despite having a huge amount of gold and silver, only a few items came out of the donation box.