The Ram Mandir Trust was formed to collect funds for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court passed a judgement in 2019 ending years of litigation.
Around Rs 6 Lakh were stolen from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s bank account on Wednesday using cloned cheques. A gang of fraudsters withdrew money using forged cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh. A case was registered against unknown individuals on Wednesday night.
The bank account was meant for collection of funds for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The fraudulent withdrawals caught the attention when the fraudsters attempted to withdraw money for the third time, following which the Secretary of the Trust, Champat Rai, was informed over the phone. The third time, the bank called the trust for verification when the fraudsters tried to withdraw Rs 9.86 lakh from the account and it was only then that the fraud came to light.
Ayodhya’s deputy inspector general, Deepak Kumar said the FIR has been registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)’s sections 419 (impersonation) and 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using forged cheque as original).
He also told, the amount withdrawn has been transferred to a Punjab National Bank account.