Ayodhya: Mahant Balram Das, head priest of the Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya, is one of the many Hindu spiritual leaders to have expressed shock and disappointment at the large-scale theft and embezzlement being reported out of the Ram Mandir.“Nishchit roop se chori hui hai [There has certainly been theft],” he said, and put his full faith in the special investigation team (SIT) put in place by the Uttar Pradesh government under Yogi Adityanath.“Until the final SIT report comes out and the whole truth is known, it would be wrong for anyone to say anything,” he continued, adding that there was much confusion among devotees and spiritual leaders at the moment on whom to trust.“Those we think are right and turning out to be wrong, those we believed to be wrong are turning out to have been right,” he said, explaining why he did not want to comment on particular individuals yet.The SIT Das speaks of was set up by the Adityanath government on June 13 to look into the complaints that had been filed.When asked about demands by the Ayodhya Bar Association and others that the names of senior leaders in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust like Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao be added to the FIR, and about whether accountability should stop at workers or go further up, he reiterated that it was important to wait for the SIT report. “Hindus across the world are pained by what has happened,” he said.While the image of the Ram Mandir and Ayodhya – both of which have been integral to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh parivar’s political project – may have been hit by the scandal, Das said that the image would be recovered once the SIT probe concluded and those responsible are held to account in the manner that Adityanath has promised.The processes and rules that exist at the Hanumangarhi temple, he said, ensured that no such theft could ever occur here. Those handling donations and receipts were completely committed to the temple and the akhada it operates within, and run it in a “panchayati” system where all sadhus have equal ownership and responsibility.This decentralised approach, he argued, is unlike one found anywhere else and secures the donations at the temple. Donations can only be made physically at the temple, and all the money and valuables collected are used to feed people and animals in the area, or for the betterment of the temple.While celebrating the decentralisation of the Hanumangarhi temple operations, Das chose not to criticise the Ram mandir trust. The formation of the trust – at the behest of the Supreme Court and announced in parliament by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi – was not the problem, Das argued, but the lack of transparency was. This oversight mechanism, he believes, will ensure that no such theft would take place in the future.