The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged theft of donations at the Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district has submitted a charge sheet naming three accused, including suspended Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Commitee (BKTC) employee Pramod Nautiyal, at a local court.
Out of the three, only Kumar is currently out on bail. In addition to Nautiyal (48), the charge sheet, submitted at the court of civil judge (junior division) and judicial magistrate Heena Kausar on October 9, names retired BKTC employee Rajendra Singh Chauhan (60) and Manoj Kumar (49), a security employed at a firm’s offices near Jyotirmath. Police said 34 rounds of donation counting had been conducted at the Badrinath temple since its opening for the current pilgrimage season.
Badrinath SHO Mahadev Uniyal said police were yet to receive a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Dehradun on the recovery of old footage from the temple’s CCTV Network Video Recorder (NVR). “If the role of more people comes to light, they will also be named as accused,” he said. “We have only been able to review footage of four countings,” Uniyal added.
