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HomeIndiaRam mandir trust says Ayodhya land deal is clean, but questions galore...

Ram mandir trust says Ayodhya land deal is clean, but questions galore for ‘missing’ owners

Irregularities were alleged as two businessmen were found to have sold 1.2-hectare Ayodhya land to Ram temple trust for Rs 18.5 cr within ‘10 mins’ of buying it for Rs 2 cr.

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Ayodhya: At a time when the purchase of a piece of land by the Ayodhya Ram temple trust has triggered allegations of financial impropriety, the original owners of the plot appear to have gone missing.

Kusum Pathak and Harish Pathak had sold 1.2 hectares of land near Ayodhya railway station to two businessmen for Rs 2 crore on 18 March this year. Within “10 minutes” of buying it from the Pathak couple, opposition leaders have alleged, the businessmen sold it for Rs 18.5 crore to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the trust set up for the construction of the Ram temple.

Meanwhile, Kusum and Harish Pathak cannot be found at their house, a two-storey building at Sakin Pathkapur village in Harraiya tehsil of Basti district, about 35 km from Ayodhya. The couple was not home when ThePrint visited them Monday morning, and hadn’t returned till late night. ThePrint visited the house once again Tuesday morning, but did not find the Pathaks there.

Their neighbours said Monday the couple had probably “gone out of town” as they didn’t see them for a day.

“He (Pathak) has sold several pieces of land. He is not exactly a property dealer but his work is similar to it. He keeps on buying and purchasing land in Ayodhya. He rarely talks to us,” one of the neighbours told ThePrint, refusing to give out his name.

The Pathak couple’s versions are vital to solving many puzzles in this real estate deal. They had sold the land in question to one Sultan Ansari, a property dealer, and his business associate Ravi Mohan Tiwari on 18 March 2021.

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra general secretary Champat Rai, however, issued a statement Monday evening, asserting that the land deal was fully transparent and people shouldn’t believe in any “propaganda”. Those (two businessmen) who sold the land to the trust had executed the agreements for it in 2011, 2017 and 2019, and the final price paid to them was much less than the market price, said Rai.

According to the trust, the land at Bagbijesi was purchased to rehabilitate those displaced due to acquisition of other pieces of land for the Ram temple complex.

Rai said: “For Ram Janmabhoomi temple, we are trying to make the premises safe and comfortable for the devotees. To do this, all important places within the under-construction area are being purchased with mutual agreements. The Teerth Kshetra has decided that every person or institution displaced due to this should be settled somewhere else.”


Also read: Media’s unwavering spotlight on Ayodhya & only private hospitals for ministers


The trust’s statement and the questions for Pathaks

This statement, Champat Rai said: “Current sellers (Ansari and Ravi Mohan) had a registered agreement years ago at a price, and after the bainama (sale deed) on 18 March, they sold it to the trust.”

He added: “After the Supreme Court order on Ram temple, a lot of people started coming to Ayodhya to purchase land, and the land price increased suddenly. The land in question is very close to the railway station and therefore, is at a very important location. We purchased it.”

A couple of hours before Rai issued the statement, Ravi Mohan Tiwari, one of the two sellers, had told ThePrint: ”In 2011, we had an agreement with Pathak that he would sell the land for Rs 2 crore. He fulfilled his promise. After this, we sold this land to the trust as per our understanding. Neither the trust has any issue with the rate, nor do we have any issue.”

Asked if he could show the 2011 contract document to ThePrint, Tiwari refused, saying he will “show it if there is an investigation”.

Ansari, the property dealer, wasn’t in his house in Ayodhya throughout Monday. His family members said Monday morning he had “gone out for some business deal”, and repeated this when ThePrint visited the house again in the evening.

Champat Rai’s statement and Tiwari’s comment leave many questions for the Pathak couple: Why would they sign a contract in 2011 for Rs 2 crore and sell it at the same price 10 years later, especially when the market price of land in Ayodhya skyrocketed after the Supreme Court ruling for the construction of the Ram temple? What more agreements did they sign for the same land in 2017 and 2019?

Earlier, AAP MP Sanjay Singh & former Samajwadi Party MLA Pawan Pandey addressed separate press conferences in Lucknow and Ayodhya Sunday to allege financial impropriety in the land deal.

“On 18 March, it (the land) was purchased at 7.10 pm. After five-ten minutes, the same land was bought by the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust and Champat Rai for Rs 18.5 crore from Ansari and Tiwari. Rs 17 crore was transferred through RTGS.”

While the trust has maintained there was total transparency in the land deal, it hasn’t responded to the allegations about the mere ten minutes’ difference in two land deals with a cost differential of Rs 16.5 crore.

Purchase was valid, say witnesses

There were two witnesses to the land deal — Anil Mishra, a member of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust, and Ayodhya Mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay.

Speaking to ThePrint, Upadhyay said: “It’s a false allegation. The land was at market rate. Just because I am the mayor, I became a witness. The agreement happened between the first seller (Pathak) and the buyer (Ansari) years back, probably 2011. They followed that agreement. Rs 18.5 crore is not high for that area, at present.”

Asked how a piece of land worth Rs 2 crore could become worth Rs 18.5 crores in 10 minutes, as alleged, the mayor maintained that the purchase was valid.

“It’s based on today’s circle rate. Its value is Rs 5.8 crore. For the acquisition, the government is ready to pay four times the circle rate. Therefore, Rs 18.5 cr is still less. It was not a bad deal. Now people are doing politics on it.”

Anil Mishra, the other witness, also denied the allegations, saying the trust will clarify the allegations soon.

SP leader Pawan Pandey, who had levelled allegations of corruption in the deal, told ThePrint: “Did Rs 2 crore land start giving out gold that it was bought for Rs 18.5 crore a few minutes later? The trustee is the witness along with Mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay. Do trust members have any documented proof that they did not do a wrong deal? If they have, why are they not showing? Why are sellers not coming in front of the media? Who is stopping them?”

On Monday, several members of the trust and administration officials were closeted in a daylong meeting at the Circuit House in Ayodhya. They, however, refused to field questions later.


Also read: Govt sets up desk to look after matters related to Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict


 

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