The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has ordered an inquiry into MLAs and relatives of bureaucrats and revenue officials having purchased land parcels in Ayodhya following the November 9, 2019, Supreme Court verdict clearing construction of a Ram temple.

Special Secretary Revenue, Radhey Shyam Mishra is expected to investigate the matter and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has ordered to submit the report to the government with relevant documents in the next 5-7 days.

The Indian Express had published a report claiming that after the Supreme Court’s verdict, some officials, MLAs, ministers, and relatives of the government officials purchased land in Ayodhya within a 5-km radius of the Ram Mandir site. The report said that at least 15 buyers of land around the Ram Mandir site included MLAs, bureaucrats who have or are serving in Ayodhya, and local revenue officials, or their close relatives.

These officials are either serving or had served in Ayodhya and their job was to authenticate land transactions. They were aware that in the future land will be acquired for the construction of the Ram Mandir at a high acquisition rate. Besides, acquired land will have a high commercial value also.

All the plots were purchased from Mahesh Yogi-founded Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust (MRVT). MRVT had purchased large tracts of land in the Barhata Manjha village and some other villages surrounding Ayodhya, within 5 km of the Ram mandir site in 1990s.

15 individuals who bought about 17 acres of land

There are 15 individuals who bought about 17 acres of land which has raised the question of propriety and conflict of interest which Yogi Adityanath has asked to investigate.

MP Agrawal is the Divisional Commissioner of Ayodhya since November 30, 2019. His father-in-law Keshav Prasad Agrawal bought 2,530 square meters in Barhata Manjha on December 10, 2020, from MRVT Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust (MRVT) on payment of Rs 31 Lakh. His brother-in-law Anand Vardhan purchased 1,260 square meters in the same village on the same day from MRVT on payment of Rs 15.50 Lakh.

Purushottam Das Gupta was posted as Chief Revenue Officer of Ayodhya between July 20, 2018, and September 10, 2021. His brother-in-law Atul Gupta’s wife Tripti Gupta purchased 1,130 square meters in Barhata Manjha on October 12, 2021, on payment of Rs 21.88 Lakh from MRVT. It was purchased in a partnership with one Amar Jeet Yadav.

Anuj Jha who is now Director at Panchayati Raj was DM of Ayodhya from February 21, 2019, until October 23, 2021. On May 28, 2020, his father Badri Jha purchased 320.631 square meters land worth Rs 23.40 Lakh at Mughalpura barely one km from the Ram temple site.

IPS Deepak Kumar was posted as DIG between July 26, 2020, and March 30, 2021. Land measuring 1,020 square meters was purchased on the name of his wife’s sister Mahima Thakur at Barhata Manjha on September 1, 2021, for Rs 19.75 Lakh from MRVT.

According to the report, Indra Pratap Tiwari (MLA Gosaiganj), Ved Prakash Gupta (MLA Ayodhya),  Umadhar Dwivedi (Retired IAS of UP cadre), Rishikesh Upadhyay (Mayor of Ayodhya), Ayush Chaudhary (former Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ayodhya), Arvind Chaurasia (Circle Officer), Harshvardhan Shahi (State Information Commissioner), Balram Maurya, (Member, State OBC Commission), Badri Upadhyay (Lekhpal of Ganja village), Sudhanshu Ranjan, (Kanoongo, Ganja village), Dinesh Ojha (peshkar of Bhan Singh, Assistant Record Officer hearing cases against MRVT) had also purchased land around Ram Mandir in the name of their relatives.  

References: 

opindia.com - OpIndia Staff