New Delhi: Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai has reportedly admitted to investigators that he became aware of the Ayodhya temple donation pilferage before the matter entered the public domain. Reports indicate that during questioning by the local police, Rai conceded that failing to lodge a First Information Report immediately upon discovering the crime was a mistake.However, local cops refused to publicly verify these admissions. When questioned about media reports detailing Rai’s acknowledgement of the oversight, a police official told the news agency PTI: “Sorry, can’t say anything on that. What transpired is confidential and can’t be shared.”According to statements published by The Telegraph, Rai revealed that he first discovered irregularities regarding the vault collections much earlier than previously assumed. “I came to know about the theft in May-end and started an internal inquiry immediately,” Rai was quoted as saying.Rather than involving law enforcement straight away, the Trust initially attempted an internal management strategy. Rai claimed, “Those involved in the theft were indirectly asked to stay away from the vault room without making them realise that we knew about their activities.” He defended the delayed official action by asserting that “taking further action against them was out of my jurisdiction.”Faced with intense scrutiny over how individuals capable of siphoning off sacred donations were placed in sensitive positions, Rai has deflected sole accountability. As per Deccan Herald, he told the SIT members that the controversial appointments to the temple’s cash-counting and management teams were not his isolated choices. Rai is reported to have claimed that “it was not his individual decision and that other members of the Trust were also involved in the decision to appoint them”.Radio officer posted elsewhereMeanwhile, Arjun Dev, the Radio Maintenance Officer at the Ram Temple, has been shunted out of his position and posted to Gorakhpur. Dev’s core responsibilities included monitoring the extensive CCTV camera network and the wireless communication systems, both of which are now under the scanner to determine how the theft continued for such a long period of time. Notably, Dev of the state police had been posted continuously in Ayodhya for the past 17 years before this sudden transfer.Meanwhile, Hindustan Times has exposed a complicated hiring pipeline between corporate security agencies and the temple trust. It reports that six of the eight men arrested for the siphoning of collection boxes were on the payroll of Sainik Security Services, a Varanasi-based firm hired by the State Bank of India Naya Ghat Branch to assist in the cash-counting process.While the security agency provided the manpower, a senior SBI official speaking anonymously revealed that the choices were heavily dictated by temple authorities. The official disclosed that certain powerful Trust members placed direct pressure on the local bank branch to include specific individuals in the 19-member cash-counting team. “They were powerful, we could [not] refuse… They are now under the scanner for pressuring SBI to include certain people,” the bank official is reported to have stated.The widening financial scandal has caused significant alarm within the top leadership of the RSS and the issue is slated to be a primary focus at the upcoming annual Prant Pracharak Baithak in Hubbali, Karnataka, reports Hindustan Times. Sangh functionaries have expressed deep worry that the theft and the subsequent handling of the situation have severely dented the organisation’s reputation. An RSS insider told the newspaper that the controversy has “cast a shadow on the struggle for the Ramjanmabhoomi Aandolan that the Sangh led,” with senior leaders viewing the delayed transparency as a damaging institutional failure. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have continued to stay silent over the serious charges of theft at the temple.