The Special Investigation Team has found Champat Rai and Anil Mishra guilty of negligence and complicity in the theft of several hundred crores of donation money from Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya.
The SIT report clearly says, all the eight accused arrested by police were appointed by Champat Rai and Anil Mishra for counting donation money and some of them were their relatives. The report reveals, Champati Rai went with police to the homes of some of the accused and recovered part of the stolen money.
The local police requested him to file an FIR since it was a serious offence, but Champat Rai refused. The SIT report says, CCTV footage was available only from April 27 to June 6, during which those involved in counting were seen stealing donation money 72 times. There were reports on Friday that both Champat Rai and Anil Mishra have resigned from the Trust but this information is yet to be confirmed.
My information is, both RSS and VHP are not in favour of protecting Champat Rai and Anil Mishra. VHP और RSS leaders are of the view that both of them should resign to ensure impartial probe.
VHP general secretary Bajrang Lal Bagra, Central Organizing secretary Milind Parande and Central Assistant Organizing general secretary Vinayak Rao met Champat Rai and Anil Mishra in Ayodhya and had a long discussion. It was only after this meeting that the Trust filed an FIR on Thursday evening at the police station.
It is futile to say Champat Rai was innocent, but he mistakenly trusted and appointed people who described themselves as Swayamsevaks. This pilferage at the temple did not happen for a few days or weeks. It had been going on for years. Nepotism in appointments and loot of donation money were going on in the temple for a long time.
There was cover-up at every stage. Champat Rai was running the Trust like his fiefdom. He handed over the keys of donation boxes to his driver and the driver brought in his nephew to the counting room. This became contagious and others too brought in their relatives.
Champat Rai and Anil Mishra were playing with fire. When the matter went out of control, they went to the homes of thieves to recover money. They projected this recovery as efficiency. They deliberately erased all evidence that could have been collected from CCTV. On the contrary, their action alerted the thieves. The greed for unbridled power has now brought Champat Rai and Anil Mishra within the ambit of suspicions. It will be better if both resign, and if they do not, they should at least stop visiting the temple till the final SIT report comes. They have no business remaining in the Trust, so long as the SIT probe continues. This will be in their own interest.
At least allegations will not be levelled that they were protecting the nephews and relatives who were stuffing their pockets with stolen donation money during counting process. This is no more an issue of negligence. Nor is the issue limited to theft of cash and valuable ornaments. The issue relates to the betrayal of faith of millions of Ram devotees.
To steal money offered to Lord Ram is a sin for which they may face punishment for several birth cycles. Those who looted money from donation boxes must have their properties seized and every paisa must be recovered. Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust must be reconstituted and responsibility should be given to people having administrative experience and who understand the challenges of modern era.
Beware of .APK files!
If you get text or WhatsApp messages from an unknown number or from an acquaintance asking you to open certain links ending with .apk, do not open. Most often, such messages are sent by cyber criminals threatening to disconnect your phone, electricity, gas connection or may tell you about your traffic challan, but do not open the link at all.
Delete the message. If, out of curiosity, you click the .apk link, your phone will be hacked by the cyber criminals and within minutes they will transfer money from your bank accounts.
On Friday, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad cyber crime cells arrested several such gangs. They had defrauded more than Rs 50 crore from the bank accounts of victims. Six persons were arrested by Mumbai police. Ahmedabad Police busted a gang hailing from the infamous hamlet of Jamtara in Jharkhand. This gang was generating APK files and was selling them to cyber criminals. APK stands for Android Package Kit. It is the standard file format used by the Android operating system to distribute and install mobile apps and games.
Any App or APK file that you download from Google Play Store is safe because Google puts such apps on its Play Store only after proper authentication. Nowadays cyber criminals develop fake APK files in the name of banks, gas agencies or RTO and then send messages to phones of victims. Once you open the .apk file, the hacker gains full control of your phone.
The hacker also gets the OTP and passwords from the bank and then cleans out your bank account. Secondly, all phone numbers that you have saved are passed on to the criminals, who send phishing messages to your contacts. They are then targeted. Of late, cyber criminals have been targeting top officials of private corporates and senior government officers.
Home Ministry has advised all big companies to ask their officials to remain alert. The moment you get to know that your phone has been hacked, contact your bank immediately and block your account. Also dial 1930 and give details. The sooner you dial 1930, the greater the possibility of nabbing the criminals.