Lucknow: The Ram Janmabhoomi trust, tasked with building the Ayodhya temple, found itself in a row last week over allegations of financial impropriety in a land deal. The deal involved a 1.208-hectare plot that was sold by a local couple to property dealers for Rs 2 crore on 18 March, and within an hour, purchased by the Ram temple trust for Rs 18.5 crore.
Now, a new document connected to the Ram temple trust’s land purchases in Ayodhya has revealed that the same couple, Harish and Kusum Pathak, struck another deal directly with the trust on the same day — for a 1.037-hectare plot sold to the temple trust for Rs 8 crore.
The second deal has raised some questions, including about the price. The first deal involved land purchase at a rate of Rs 15,314/square metre (1 hectare=10,000 sq m), while the second one, located nearby, was at half that price, Rs 7,714/ sq m.
The papers about the second deal were accessed by ThePrint through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System – Uttar Pradesh (IGRS-UP) website of the state’s Stamp & Registration Department.
The first purchase was made by the trust through property dealers Sultan Ansari and Ravi Mohan Tiwari.
The controversy around the land purchases for the temple erupted over the weekend as the opposition Samajwadi Party as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) raised a stink about the fact that the first parcel of land was bought for Rs 2 crore from the couple and sold for Rs 18.5 crore to the trust “within minutes”.
The Congress has since joined the criticism bandwagon, and the SP and the AAP have sought a CBI inquiry in the matter.
The trust and Ansari have both denied the allegations, explaining that the Rs 2 crore deal was just the culmination of agreements underway since 2011, finalised in March this year to have the papers in order for the transfer of land to the trust.
The couple has been below the radar since the allegations first emerged.
ThePrint reached trust general secretary Champat Rai by phone for comments on the second deal, but calls remained unanswered. Attempts to meet him while he was in Ayodhya failed because this reporter was turned away.
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Understanding the deals
The land in question is located at Bag Bigesi village, 3 km from the Ram Janmabhoomi.
According to the document accessed by ThePrint, the land — the entire expanse purchased under the two deals — comprises four parcels, Gata (section of land) Numbers 242, 243, 244 and 246. While 243, 244 and 246 were bought by the trust as part of the first deal, 242 constituted the second deal.
The media statement issued by the trust earlier this week as well as Ansari’s interview to ThePrint suggest that the price difference in the first deal can be explained by negotiations underway between different parties — including the Pathaks, Ansari and Tiwari, among others — that date back a decade, when the plot’s market value was much below the current rates.
Ansari showed ThePrint copies of certain agreements that he and his business associate, identified as Ravi, had allegedly entered into with the Pathak couple over the past 10 years. He said they had paid the couple Rs 60 lakh as a token sum for the land over the years.
According to the papers, the first contract was signed in 2011 after Ansari and Ravi paid Rs 10 lakh as “peshagi (token amount)” to the Pathaks who agreed to sell the land for Rs 1 crore. It was renewed in 2014 for the same sale value while the peshagi remained with the Pathaks.
On 17 September 2019, about two months before the Supreme Court delivered the judgment in the Ayodhya case, Ansari and Pathak entered into yet another agreement with the Pathak couple. This time, the value of the land was pegged at Rs 2 crore, and an additional peshagi of Rs 50 lakh was given to the couple.
On 18 March 2021, the dealers got the land registered in their names. Within “an hour”, he said, it was sold to the Ram temple trust.
The trust also pointed out that the land is prime property.
“The said plot is adjacent to the road. In the very near future, this road will be four-lane and it will be the main approaching road to Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, so the location of the land is very much prime,” the trust added in its statement.
The 1.208-hectare plot has been purchased at a rate of Rs 1,423 per square foot, which is less than the going rate in Ayodhya, the trust said.
The trust statement, released Tuesday, suggested the same parcel of land has been a part of at least six agreements since 2011, with the trust purchase being the sixth of these. While the first few of these also mentioned the fourth parcel of land, it wasn’t a part of the deal signed between the trust and Ansari, Tiwari.
Speaking to ThePrint, Ansari had said he sold the plot “below the market price” to the trust because “the deal was signed and it was related to the Ram Mandir”.
Ansari said there are nine partners in the deal, including him & Tiwari, and the money will be distributed among them.
‘Nothing amiss’
Speaking to ThePrint, a source at the registry office confirmed that the Pathak couple had sold Gata 242 directly to the trust. “They sold the land after the 2019 agreement was cancelled. Kusum and Harish Pathak were technically free to sell the land directly to the trust. Interestingly, they sold one plot for Rs 2 crore another for Rs 8 crore,” he added.
The witnesses for both the deals were trust member Anil Mishra and Ayodhya Mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay, he said.
Mayor Upadhyay, however, denied there was anything amiss in the deal.
“Many pieces of land have been purchased in the last few months for settling people who live near the Ram Janmabhoomi, I don’t know which land piece you are talking about. Maybe I was a witness because I have been witness to other land deals of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust too,” he told ThePrint. “I can only say no such fraud happened, everything is available online. You can check there.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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