Rush Hour: SIT flags 70 instances of donation theft at Ram temple, CJP’s X account restored & more

A Special Investigation Team set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the alleged embezzlement of donations at Ayodhya’s Ram temple found 70 instances of counting staff hiding bundles of notes and loose cash in their clothes, pockets and shoes. The report submitted by the SIT, which Scroll has reviewed, pins blame for the dilution of the security protocol in the counting room on trustee Anil Mishra, whose resignation from the post was accepted on Monday.

The team examined CCTV footage of the counting room from April 27 to June 5. Although the trust’s internal audits recommended the preservation of 180 days of footage, it “did not take these reports seriously, which led to the present problem”, said the report.

The SIT said that bank records of the accused and witness statements suggest that similar thefts were happening even earlier, but without CCTV footage. Read on.

The Delhi High Court ordered that the X account of the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party be unblocked. This came after the Union government said that it had no objections to the account being restored.

The account had been blocked on May 21 “in response to a legal demand”. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the account had been blocked in...

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