Uttarakhand Government Orders Action in Badrinath Donation Theft Case

The Uttarakhand government has directed the chief executive officer of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) to take action against officials and employees found responsible for alleged financial irregularities, following an inquiry into payments made for VIP guests at Kedarnath.

In a June 25 letter, Deputy Secretary Anil Kumar Pandey of the Tourism and Religious Affairs Department cited the inquiry report, which found prima facie evidence that advance funds were released from the temple corpus without approval from the competent authority. The report questioned the roles of the then Manager, Kedarnath, the then Chief In-charge Officer, Kedarnath, and the then Chief Executive Officer. The government directed the BKTC CEO to act against those named in accordance with the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee Act, 1939.

Separately, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is investigating the alleged theft of donations at the Badrinath temple. On Sunday, the SIT recorded statements of five witnesses. Uttarakhand Police said the BKTC will submit bank records for the last three years as part of the investigation. CCTV footage from July 2 has been recovered, showing suspended BKTC employee Pramod Nautiyal allegedly collecting cash suspiciously from the donation counting room.

Chamoli SP Surjit Singh Panwar told ANI: 'We are currently investigating on the basis of the complaint given by the BKTC. We have recorded the statements of some of the available prime witnesses. We are waiting for the official internal inquiry report of the BKTC. The statement of the other witnesses will be recorded soon. The process of analysing the CCTV footage and collecting the evidence is underway. After the due collection of evidence, we will proceed with further action against the accused.'

According to police, CCTV footage allegedly shows Nautiyal 'suspiciously hiding or stealing' bundles of Rs 500 and Rs 100 notes, gold and silver coins, shaligram stones, and offering envelopes. He was seen making repeated trips between the counting room and his office, leading investigators to suspect the stolen items were concealed there. The alleged irregularities came to light during counting of cash offerings on July 2. A preliminary inquiry found that cash was removed from the counting area in violation of procedures. An FIR was registered at Badrinath Police Station following a complaint by BKTC In-charge Temple Officer Yudhvir Pushpwan.