New Delhi: Bajrang Dal founder and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar has blamed Gopal Rao and Champat Rai, who was in charge of the darshan ritual at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, for the alleged donation theft at Hindutva’s marquee project.Speaking to ANI, Katiyar said funds had been siphoned off and that he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I spoke to Modi ji over this matter, and he asked what would happen … I told him everything will be fine. There might be a chance that Champat Rai, Gopal Rao and Anil Mishra go to jail in the coming days,” he said.Champat Rai was the general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, responsible for managing the temple, and Anil Mishra was a trustee – both resigned last week, though the trust is to meet and discuss the matter on July 6.On Friday, July 3, Champat Rai said that his “service in Ayodhya is complete”, reports Deccan Herald. The trust is reportedly planning to issue show-cause notices to Champat Rai and Anil Mishra.But on the same day as Katiyar spoke out, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya came out in support of Rai, saying, as per multiple news reports, “Those who worked tirelessly, like great ascetics, for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, including Champat Rai and others, are deeply pained by this incident – no need to make a big deal of the donation issue.”Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday (July 3) gave its Special Investigative Team 15 more days to ascertain the causes and culprits. With eight members of the ‘ground level’ team handling donations at the temple already in judicial custody (prison) since a week, and higher-ups in the temple administration being questioned, the blame game has heated up.Nirmohi Akhara head and chief priest of the Ram Temple Dinendra Das has also blamed fellow temple trustee Gopal Rao for not following tradition and politicising temple affairs. The “entire mess” is because of him, reports the New Indian Express.Dinendra Das and Gopal Rao (a.k.a. Gopal Nagarkatte) are both trustees.Meanwhile, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has blamed “the conspiracies of anti-Hindu, anti-national forces seeking … to malign Hindu dharma and society” and expressed “confidence that through proper financial management, seamless operations, transparent systems and with purity, sanctity and religiosity, the [trust] will continue to strengthen the faith of Hindu society.”SIT meets Anil Mishra, Gopal RaoThe three-member SIT questioned Gopal Rao, an invitee to the trust, on Thursday. Trustee Anil Mishra was also questioned by the SIT for a second time, said reports. Notably, Katiyar told Times of India Bharat that Mishra was a “good man” caught up in the entire affair. He said he tried to warn some of them to stay away from the temple’s affairs.ToI reported that the SIT’s questions related to administrative affairs of the temple – how it keeps accounts, who is responsible for which department and so on. It is also looking into appointments, which, so far, were reported as having been decided by the Union government.The SIT has also expanded its ambit beyond matching donation receipts to examine previous allegations of land deals of the trust – sale deeds, payment records, financial trails, all are being sought.Lucknow Division commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Lucknow Range inspector general Kiran S. and special secretary in the Uttar Pradesh government’s finance department Neelratan Kumar lead the SIT. They conducted the questioning at the temple premises. It is unclear if any documents were examined or seized.Accusations flyDinendra Das, the Nirmohi Akhara chief and temple trustee, told ToI in a separate report that he had been unhappy with how rituals were conducted at the temple and by Tinnu Yadav’s involvement in temple affairs. He alleged Yadav, who is close to Champat Rai, was previously arrested. On Gopal Rao, Das said, “He was introduced by Anil Mishra and we feel cheated now.”Das’s statements indicate possible ad-hocism in appointments at the trust. He also rejected the suggestion from Nripendra Mishra, who heads the other trust related to the Ram Temple, one in charge of its construction, which is ongoing. “The trust is already operating; there is no need to appoint a chief executive officer,” he told ToI.Similar ad hocism came to light in a report by News18, in which a former employee alleges that Tinnu Yadav made people “massage his feet” and appointments were based on recommendations. NDTV reported that as per the SIT’s questioning of arrestees, Anil Mishra recommended hiring 125 persons to work for the trust/temple.Besides, “internal” security at the Ram temple has been “strengthened”, say reports, and security personnel have been told not to let employees leave the premises without frisking.This comes as the Indian Express reported on Friday, citing Ayodhya Police, that scanning 45 days of footage from the temple’s Pilgrim Facility Centre has shown five counting personnel removing bundles of notes and hiding them in their clothes or socks.Yadav (a.k.a. Ram Shankar Yadav) is in prison with the other seven arrested in the case. The FIR also names Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava as accused. It also mentions several unidentified persons.