Madhya Pradesh/ After Ayodhya, Badrinath, Donation Row Hits MP’s Famous Shakti Temple, Probe Ordered

Bhopal: A parallel donation collection system, run by a private committee, has come to surface in a famous ancient Shakti shrine of Madhya Pradesh leading the state government to order a probe into it.

This is the third famous place of worship of Hindus after the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand, found to be embroiled in the donation ‘theft’ row.

The shrine in Madhya Pradesh in the focus of the donation row is Maa Baglamukhi Temple at Nalkheda in Agar-Malwa district, which is visited by thousands of devotees everyday to make offerings including cash, gold and silver jewelries to the presiding deity of the temple seeking divine intervention to resolve their long-standing issues.

A complaint has been received by the Agar- Malwa district collector Preeti Yadav recently alleging that a parallel system run by an unregistered, non-governmental committee has been functioning for the shrine for the last several years to accept cash as well as gold and silver ornaments from devotees through private bank accounts.

The district collector immediately visited the temple for a preliminary investigation into it, a senior district officer told this newspaper on Wednesday.

The district collector then constituted a three-member probe committee to probe the matter and sought a report within a week, the officer added.

The inquiry committee will submit a fact-finding report within seven days and based on the report, necessary action will be taken, the district collector said.

Sources disclosed to this newspaper that the ‘illicit’ donation collection practice was run by a person, considered close to a government official.

The three-member inquiry committee is headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agar-Malwa Zilla Panchayat, B S Solanki, and comprises Agar-Malwa District Treasury Officer Manish Solanki and Chief Municipal Officer of Nalkheda Municipal Council, Mini Agrawal, as its other members.

The committee has been asked to thoroughly search the temple premises, examine the relevant records and accounts, and record statements of relevant persons.

The temple affairs have been managed by a government committee.

Madhya Pradesh minister for religious trusts and endowments Dharmendra Lodhi on Wednesday said that the matter has been brought to his notice and stringent action will be taken against the guilty in the case after the probe.

He however said that the illicit practice of collecting donations and valuables from devotees is being carried out by some people who have no links to the temple management committee.

The devotees believe that the presiding deity of the shrine possesses the power to neutralize their enemies and negative energies and resolve the long-standing legal disputes.

Legends go that Yudhistir of the Pandava dynasty had established the shrine on the advice of Lord Krishna to defeat the Kauravas in the battle.