New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday took note of the Uttar Pradesh government's submission that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had filed a chargesheet in the alleged embezzlement of donations to the Ayodhya Ram temple and disposed of petitions seeking an independent probe, saying the local court would proceed with the trial.
Appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana that the SIT probe found that donations at the temple had been embezzled during the counting process.
Mehta said some of the accused had invested the money in properties, while others had kept the embezzled amount in bank deposits.
The bench took note of the submissions and allowed the petitioners, who had approached the top court seeking an independent probe into the alleged misappropriation of donations, to assist the Ayodhya local court in the trial.
It disposed of the petitions, clarifying that it had expressed no opinion on the merits of the allegations in the Ram temple donation embezzlement case.
The Supreme Court also refused to entertain a fresh plea seeking a determination on whether the Ram temple stands on land adjudicated in the main Ayodhya dispute.
On September 21, the court-appointed SIT probing the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple had informed the court that it would file its first chargesheet on or before September 25.
