Champat Rai is the International Vice President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and has for decades been one of the leading organisational figures of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
The Ayodhya Police on Tuesday recorded the statement of former Ram Temple trust secretary Champat Rai on Tuesday, 30 June, in connection with the alleged fund embezzlement of the temple. The role of private security personnel, who were hired by the temple trust, have also come under the scanner, as per a report by PTI.
In an inteview with Hindustan Times, Alok Kumar, international president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), admitted that Rai “may be guilty of negligence” in the case. However, he also said that, “You want me to dismiss him (Rai) today without the result of the investigation probe but no one has accused Rai yet. The allegations are on his driver.”
A political firestorm has also been triggered in the state following a Congress delegation headed by the party’s state president Ajay Rai being prevented by Uttar Pradesh authorities from visiting the temple. Congress has claimed their members were put under ‘house arrest’ by the Yogi Adiyanath government.
A police official who spoke to PTI on the matter said that Rai’s statement was recorded as part of the probe into the alleged donation embezzlement.
Ayodhya Circle Officer Ashutosh Tiwari, the head of the investigation, had visited Rai’s resident in Bharat Kuti at Karsevakpuram in order to seek details and documents regarding to the alleged crime, PTI reported citing sources familiar with the matter.
Who is Champat Rai?
Champat Rai is the International Vice President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and has for decades been one of the leading organisational figures of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He was made the General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust after the Supreme Court’s 2019 verdict on the Ayodhya dispute.
Born on 18 November 1946 in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijor district, Rai began his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from a very early age. He eventually became a pracharak (campaigner) of the outfit.
Rai taught Chemistry at the RSM Degree College in Bijnor’s Dhamipur. During the Emergency, he was arrested from his college premises as he was a member of the RSS, which was then banned by the Indira Gandhi government. After spending 18 months behind bars, he committed himself full-time to the organisation and quit his job as a lecturer.
Rai joined the VHP in 1980 and after serving in a number of leadership positions, he relocated to Ayodhya in 1991, becoming the VHP’s co-organisation secretary for Uttar Pradesh.
During the demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992, Rai was present at the occasion as one of the kar sevaks. He found himself named in a chargesheet by the CBI, but was in 2020 acquitted by a special CBI court along with all other co-accused in the case.
On 19 February 2020, Rai was named as the first general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust. Akhilesh Yadav alleged last month that financial discrepancies could be found in donations collected for the construction of the temple, and the issue found steam when cash was discovered at the residence of one of the employees of the trust who was managing donations.
Following this, the UP government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) team to probe the matter. Once Ramashankar Yadav (alias Tinnu Yadav), who was Rai’s driver, was named as one of the suspects in the case, Rai resigned from his position in the trust.
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