Ram Temple trust opens new bank account, old account to be merged with it: Trust member

The newly-formed Ram Temple trust on Thursday opened a new bank account with the Ayodhya branch of the State Bank of India with a provision for merger with it an old account, opened after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, a trust member said.

The new bank account was opened formally in the name of Sri Ram Janamabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust today, exactly a month after the formation of the trust, said Anil Mishra, one of the trust members and authorised signatories of the account.

The other signatories of the account, entitled to operate it, are Govindgiri Maharaj and Champat Rai, said Dr Mishra. The first deposit in this zero-balance account will be made from the last 15-days' donations made in the collection box at the Ram Lalla makeshift temple, he said, adding the donation money is currently being held at the Ram Janmabhoomi site.

The money deposited in the donation box at the Ram Janambhoomi site is counted every 15 days with the treasury officer, SBI official, executive magistrate and a goldsmith presiding over the counting process.

"The money will subsequently be deposited in the Trust's new account," he said. Donations made in gold are valued and sent to the treasury locker while the money is deposited in the SBI account.

An old account, opened by the then commissioner in February 1993 after he was made receiver by the Supreme Court too will be merged with the new account, he said. A Rs 10 crore corpus lying with the 27-year-old account would be transferred to the new account after the necessary permission for income tax exemptions, he said.