The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court on 9th May ordered to register a case in the case of embezzlement of donated money and other valuables from the Tulja Bhawani Temple in Maharashtra’s Tuljapur. The court issued the order based on two inquiry reports in the case, which found that around ₹8.46 crore worth of cash, gold and other valuables were misappropriated by officials by auctioning donation boxes of the temple.
The bench of justices Mangesh S Patil and Shailesh Brahme ordered that an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police should investigate the matter.
The court also slammed the state govt for arguing against probing the matter by saying that the investigation may not prove the allegations of embezzlement. The court said the state’s govt’s decision to prejudge the issue is not acceptable.
The court said, “since it is a matter of misappropriation and criminal breach of trust resorting to forgery, it being a cognizable offence punishable under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the criminal law must be set in motion and there has to be a threadbare investigation into the allegations.” The court added that if the investigating machinery/officer is unable to collect evidence after the investigation, then the allegations may not be substantiated and a charge-sheet may not be filed, but the action cannot be preempted.
The matter relates to alleged embezzlement of valuables received in donation boxes of the Tulja Bhawani Temple from 1991 2009. During this period, the donation boxes were auctioned, and allegedly fraud and misappropriation took place by temple officials.
The temple management had decided to auction the donation boxes in August 1984. In September 1991 the practice was stopped after it was found to be against the interest of the temple. But despite that, the auction process was resumed after a few months, which continued till 2009. Allegedly, there was rampant embezzlement of the donations during this period. While the temple received huge amounts of cash, gold, silver and other valuables are offerings to the deity, only few were accounted for in the auction process.
In 2009, the collector realised that such embezzlement was taking place. The office of the Joint Charity Commissioner also came to the same conclusion. After that, the CID was asked to investigate the matter in 2011 by CM Ashok Chavan. However, there was no progress in the case, and in 2015, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti filed a PIL with the High Court seeking investigation into the matter.
As per an order of the court responding to the plea, an enquiry report was submitted to the Court in a sealed cover on 29.09.2017 and the petition was disposed of. The enquiry report had recommended filing a case in the matter, but it was ignored and no case was filed. As a result, the petitioners filed another plea in 2017, seeking directions to constitute a Special Investigation Team to investigate the matter, and to recover the amount of over ₹8 crore from the persons who had embezzled the gold, silver ornaments and cash.
After the submission of the enquiry report, the Maharashtra DGP ordered a reenquiry in November 2017, and its report was filed in February 2018. This was a much detailed report, which mentioned the names of the trustees and the manner in which embezzlement had taken place. The report suggested registration of crime under different sections of the Indian Penal Code like 109, 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 67 of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950.
The report stated that during the period between 1991 and 2009 there was misappropriation to the tune of around Rs. 8.46 Crores. The report was forwarded to the Home Department of the State Government on 22.03.2018 and the Home Department again directed further reenquiry.
Accordingly, another enquiry was done and the report was submitted in January 2020. This report stated that though there were irregularities and negligence by the then trustees, who were Collectors, Sub Divisional Officers and Tahsildars during that period, they could not be held criminally liable. The report also claimed that the period from 1991 to 2009 was pretty old, and recommended not to conduct any departmental enquiry.
The court noted that while the first 2 reports concluded that concerned officers had indulged in misappropriation, the 3rd report claimed no concrete proofs could be collected against them. The third report claimed that as the Tahsildars were ex officio managing trustees, it would be a matter of negligence, not misappropriation. The state govt sided with the third report in the court, saying that calculations made in earlier reports were notional, there was no concrete material and the prosecution could not stand simply on the basis of such notional calculations.
However, the petitioners pointed out that the Collector in 2009 and then the Joint Charity Commissioner had noticed gross illegality and mismanagement taking serious objection to the auctions being undertaken in respect of donation box. This clearly reveals misappropriation and criminal breach of trust, which should have been sufficient for the State Government to direct registration of crime and its investigation, they argued.
The petitioners also alleged that govt were trying to protect the accused persons because they are govt officials. However, the govt denied the charge, saying that it was not practicable to register the crime and investigate it merely based on the inferences. The Additional Public Prosecutor submitted though there could be some misappropriation and embezzlement, there is no concrete record. It was a matter of auctioning of the donation box undertaken every year. The govt argued that in the absence of any concrete proof, it would be an exercise in futility.
However, the High Court rejected the arguments of the state government, saying that when there are police reports finding misappropriation of temple fund and suggesting investigation, the criminal law must be set in motion and there has to be a threadbare investigation into the allegations.
The court also noted that everyone, even the latest report that suggested against filing cases, is unanimous that the practice of auctioning the donation box should not have been resorted to. Even the Joint Charity Commissioner had ordered in 2010 to stop it giving reasons for it, the court noted.
“In our considered view, the issue needs to be taken to the logical end, even if it requires registration of a crime,” the bench added.
Notably, the scam came to prominence in 2010 after the donation boxes were sealed for a month on the complaint of a priest. It was found that the temple received 443 grams of gold in just one month from March 18 to April 18 after the boxes were opened, while as per record, the temple received on 40 grams of gold in the last 10 years. This revealed that massive misappropriation of donations was going on in auctioning of donation boxes.
Talking about the court order, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti issued a statement saying that the successful legal battle fought by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad over the past nine years has culminated in this significant victory. “The decision brings relief and joy to millions of devotees across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Goa. The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti vows to persist until the corrupt officials responsible for misappropriating government funds face justice,” said the Samiti.
Senior Advocate Sanjeev Deshpande, along with Founder Member of Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad Advocate Suresh Kulkarni and Advocate Umesh Bhadgavankar represented the petitioners in the court.
