125 crore corruption to cover Kedarnath temple sanctum with gold leaf, demands sit probe, kedarnath-temple-committee-demands-sit-probe-into-alleged-gold-plating-scam

Dehradun, November 6: The temple committee has demanded an investigation by the special investigation team in the case of a 125 crore taka scam in the case of gold plating in the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath temple. They have submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stating this demand. Until now, the Congress and other opposition parties have been demanding a high-level inquiry into the matter.

Once the investigation begins, Kedarnath temple committee chairman Ajendra Ajay, who has been keeping silent on the matter so far, will be questioned. In a memorandum to Dhami, the temple committee members wrote that the allegations of corruption and irregularities are not only tarnishing the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples, but also tarnishing the image of the state government.

In the letter to Dhami, the temple committee said, “Under such circumstances, it is very important to have a seat inquiry into the whole matter.” They said that although people are silent on this matter, questions are being raised repeatedly to temple committee members, priests and those associated with the temple. In this situation, the temple committee said that the state government should investigate this matter as soon as possible

On this side, it is believed that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who is currently at Kedarnath Dham, may raise this issue during his visit. The temple committee members want to investigate and clarify the matter before the matter is raised again.

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Attempts were made to contact temple committee chairman Ajendra Ajay for a response but could not be contacted. Committee member Ashutosh Dimri said, they want to reveal the truth. In his words, “We have met the Chief Minister and written a letter to him to constitute a seat to probe the matter deeply. We hope that the state government will conduct an inquiry into the matter soon.”

In October 2022, the gold plating of the sanctum wall of the Kedarnath temple was completed. A Mumbai businessman was reported to have donated 23 kg of gold to the temple committee. After this, the walls and ceiling of the Kedarnath temple were coated with 550 gold sheets. The entire work was carried out under the supervision of two officers of the Archaeological Survey of India.

Some time after the work was completed, Chardham Mahapanchayat vice-president Santosh Trivedi alleged that 23.78 kg of donated gold was stolen and that it was a scam worth around Rs 1.25 billion. Trivedi has demanded an inquiry into the scam and the Congress echoed the same tone

Amid the growing controversy, culture and religious affairs secretary Harichandra Semwal has constituted a high-level inquiry committee headed by the Garhwal commissioner to probe the matter.