In a major update in the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Shri Badrinath Dham, the departmental inquiry team has completed its probe and submitted the report to the CEO.
The preliminary findings in the matter purportedly suggest that the theft of devotees’ offerings and valuables took place not just once, but on multiple occasions, IANS reported.
As per reports, the four-member inquiry team has detailed the entire incident and the findings of their investigation in an 18-page report.
Further, the SIT report has provided suggestions to prevent such incidents in the future. The committee has clarified multiple aspect of the matter in the report.
According to IANS, they have recommended installing more CCTV cameras in the temple’s donation counting room, besides covering all ‘blind spots’ along the temple’s circumambulation path with CCTV surveillance.
It is being said that the inquiry team was able to retrieve footage dating back 14 days, prior to the incident on July 2. Due to the inferior quality of previously installed CCTV cameras, the storage capacity was limited to only 15 days.
The alleged accused is seen misappropriating money in the footage from July 2 and the team discovered several segments of the footage from the preceding 14 days to be significant.
On July 7, the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) took the action to uphold discipline and administrative transparency. Pramod Nautiyal, a Personal Assistant posted in the Chairman’s office, was suspended with immediate effect.