Vaishno Devi Silver Row: Court Orders Evidence Preservation, Seeks Probe Report
JAMMU: The Jammu Chief Judicial Magistrate has directed the submission of a detailed inquiry report in the alleged Rs 550 crore fake silver offerings case at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, while ordering the preservation of all related evidence. The order was passed on July 29 by Chief Judicial Magistrate Munish Kumar Manhas.
The court's direction came during a hearing on a petition filed by advocate Deepak Sharma, who sought urgent protection of physical, documentary, and electronic evidence connected to the controversy. The petition alleges adulteration, substitution, pilferage, and suspected misappropriation of approximately 20 tonnes of silver offerings made by devotees to the shrine.
The petitioner requested the safeguarding of the remaining silver or purported silver articles, samples, remnants, and residues. It also sought the preservation of stock and vault records, weighing and dispatch registers, assay and laboratory reports, government mint records, transportation documents, and the complete chain-of-custody record. The petition further asked for protection of CCTV footage, electronic inventory data, official emails, server logs, access records, audit trails, accounting records, reconciliation statements, and other digital evidence linked to the alleged scam.
According to the timeline presented in the petition, Sharma submitted a complaint to the IGP (crime branch) Jammu and SSP (crime branch, EOW) Jammu on May 9. The crime branch received the complaint on May 11 and forwarded it to its headquarters on May 20 for further action. The crime branch headquarters approved its reference to the Zonal Police HQ on June 9, following which it was sent to the IGP (Jammu) on June 13.
The SSP stated that the case is currently in the inquiry stage, and no FIR has been registered yet. The court has posted the next hearing on August 18.
The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, located in the Trikuta Mountains of Jammu and Kashmir, is one of the most revered Hindu pilgrimage sites in India. It attracts millions of devotees annually, who offer various items including silver articles as a mark of devotion. The allegations of fake silver offerings have raised concerns among devotees and the public about the management and accountability of offerings at the shrine.
