Congress leader KC Venugopal has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a Supreme Court- monitored investigation into allegations of irregularities in the Ram Temple donation collections. He referred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to look into matter and said its actions so far “are an eyewash” clearly designed to shield the “big fish”.Congress leader KC Venugopal. (X)“So far, only the ‘small fish’—drivers, clerks and outsourced cashiers—have been arrested, while the institutional support and chain of command that enabled the brazen loot remain untouched,” said Venugopal in the letter on Thursday.Venugopal said that staff siphoned donations daily and 7 to 8 months of CCTV footage were missing, indicating irregularities orchestrated at the highest level. “ The ongoing preliminary investigations have exposed a highly organised racket operating right under the nose of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust [which manages the temple].”Venugopal said the systemic collapse at every level makes it clear that this loot was enabled by institutional support. He added that complaints of theft were suppressed or ignored and the trust’s former chief accounts officer was dismissed following his warnings of systemic irregularities. “These episodes reveal a pattern of wilful indifference to safeguarding donations collected in the name of Lord Ram,” Venugopal wrote.In a post on X, Venugopal said this is way beyond an ordinary loot, and it strikes at the heart of how faith is corrupted; first for political gain, and then for financial enrichment. He accused so-called protectors of the Hindu faith of tarnishing the deity’s image.Venugopal noted that the government constituted the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in 2020 and that it has to be held to higher standards of transparency and accountability. He said the irregularities have shaken the nation. “...devotees gave their hard-earned savings in the name of Lord Rama,” said Venugopal. He added that a fraud of this magnitude is a monumental betrayal of the Hindu faith and way of life.Venugopal wrote to Modi on the day the SIT returned to Ayodhya on Thursday and questioned three key Trust functionaries, Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao, for six hours. Rai resigned as general secretary of the Trust last week. The eight men arrested so far include Ram Shankar Yadav, an aide of Rai.