Shri Badrinath Dham donation row: 32 days of CCTV footage considered crucial evidence missing
Chamoli, June 13 (IANS) In a major turn of events in the Shri Badrinath Dham donation theft case, it has come to light that the 32 days of CCTV footage, considered vital evidence for the investigation, are missing.
Initially, it was claimed that 45 days of footage from Shri Badrinath Dham were preserved as evidence in the case of alleged misappropriation of offerings and donation funds.
Sources revealed that the investigation team has not yet received the CCTV recordings for those 32 days. Sources further stated that technical teams are working to recover the deleted footage.
Earlier, the departmental inquiry team constituted to investigate the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Shri Badrinath Dham completed its probe and submitted the report to the CEO.
According to the investigation, the preliminary findings purportedly suggest that the theft of devotees’ offerings and valuables took place not just once, but on multiple occasions. According to sources, the four-member inquiry team detailed the entire incident and the findings of their investigation in an 18-page report.
The SIT report also offered suggestions to prevent such incidents in the future. The committee clarified several aspects of the matter in the report. It recommended installing more CCTV cameras in the temple’s donation counting room and covering all ‘blind spots’ along the temple’s circumambulation path with CCTV surveillance.
Sources indicated that the inquiry team could only retrieve footage dating back 14 days, prior to the incident on July 2. Due to the inferior quality of previously installed CCTV cameras, their storage capacity was limited to just 15 days.
The alleged accused is seen misappropriating money in the footage from July 2. The team also found several segments of the footage from the preceding 14 days to be significant.
The Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) had taken major action on July 7 to uphold discipline and administrative transparency. Pramod Nautiyal, a Personal Assistant posted in the Chairman’s office, was suspended with immediate effect.
The committee had previously constituted a four-member panel to conduct an impartial investigation into the matter.
According to the order issued by the BKTC, prima facie allegations of serious irregularities regarding the discharge of official duties had surfaced against Pramod Nautiyal.
Subsequently, a show-cause notice was issued to him on July 3, seeking an explanation. The committee had formed the four-member inquiry panel to ensure a fair and detailed investigation into the case.
The clarifications received during the investigation and the committee’s preliminary report were examined, and the allegations levelled were found to be prima facie correct.
–IANS
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