Supreme Court Wants Uttar Pradesh Government To Clear Stand On SIT Probe Into Ram Temple Theft

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A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, to take instructions on whether the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which had examined the entire issue before the registration of the FIR, could be entrusted with the responsibility to probe the case instead of the local police.

“Just a word of caution. Please don’t politicise the issue. The courts are not a place for politics. It is a simple case of commission of crime. We are (here) just to ensure a proper investigation,” the CJI said.

At the outset, Mehta said that in compliance with an earlier order, the state government has filed a status report. “Investigation is going on. Eight persons were arrested. I cannot divulge much,” he said.

Asked whether the SIT was probing the case, Mehta said, “The SIT was constituted to find out the truthfulness. Now it is being probed by the police. The SIT just found that there is a cognisable offence.”

The bench noted that two senior IAS officers and the inspector general of police of Lucknow were part of that SIT and asked whether they could conduct the main investigation to ensure fairness and transparency.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for one of the petitioners, said, “Our PIL is stating that when the temple was built they sought donation from everyone. Now we are seeking that those receipts are preserved and uploaded.”

The bench said it will look into this and pass certain directions when it takes up the case next Monday.

On July 13, the bench had directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to submit a status report in the matter.

It had also issued a notice to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on pleas seeking a fair and time-bound probe into the alleged donation theft.