Mumbai – The Maharashtra Government has taken cognisance of the alleged scam involving hundreds of crores of rupees in the ‘Western Maharashtra Devasthan Management Committee’, which manages 3,067 temples, including the famous Kolhapur’s Karveer Nivasini Shree Mahalaxmi Devi Temple and Shree Jyotiba Temple. Even after 10 years, the State CID (Crime Investigation Department) investigation report has not been made public.
A memorandum demanding that the report be made public and action be taken against the culprits was submitted to Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule by Sunil Ghanwat, the Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh State Organiser of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. On this, the Minister instructed the administration to immediately organise a meeting.
Shri. Sunil Ghanwat stated in the memorandum given to the Chief Minister and Revenue Minister that during the 2015 Assembly session, the then Chief Minister had given an official assurance that the investigation into this major scam would be conducted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the State CID. The probe involved serious issues such as the disappearance of records of around 8,000 acres of land out of nearly 25,000 acres belonging to the Paschim Maharashtra Devasthan Management Committee, no annual audit for 35 years, and no records of valuable ornaments. Despite this, even after 10 years, the investigation report has not been made public, due to which the fear of law has vanished among the accused.
Key demands in the memorandum
- The CID investigation report should be immediately made public on the government website.
- Criminal cases should be registered against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act and they should be arrested.
- The financial loss caused to the Devasthans should be recovered from the personal property of the accused.
- The current committee should be immediately dissolved and a transparent management system should be implemented in its place.
