Daily Briefing: 6 years before SIT probe, audit flagged record-keeping gaps in Ram Temple donations

• Ram Mandir donation probe
• Via Lipulekh
• Behind Messi’s magic, a bodyguard

🚨 Big Story

Even as the Ram Temple committee faces allegations of misappropriation of donations, an exclusive report in The Indian Express highlights that in 2020, an audit firm had found the management of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, within months of its formation, “highly unprofessional” and noted that there was no “systemic record” of donations. Six years later, the recommendation of the private audit firm that a “Systematic Operating Process (SOP)” be drafted for efficient management is yet to be implemented. The audit firm, in its report in 2020, stated: “Need to devise SOP of trust for each level of transaction, data management, staff and other resources” to fix responsibility and accountability.

⚡ Only in Express

Via Lipulekh: For centuries, traders in Uttarakhand undertook a treacherous trek through the Lipulekh Pass, their ponies laden with goods that they sold in Tibet. The Pass was shut in 2019, first due to the pandemic and later as India-China border skirmishes led to a chill in bilateral relations. Lying at the trijunction of India, Nepal, and China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, the Pass loops its way through the snow-covered Himalayan ranges, reaching 17,000 feet at its highest point. With the Pass now set to reopen for trade after seven years, The Indian Express travels to Lipulekh, a cross-border route marked by geography, geopolitics.

📰 From the Front Page

Lohagad fort murder: Within months of their engagement, 25-year-old Pune businessman Ketan Agarwal was allegedly murdered by the very woman he was set to marry and her lover. What began as a relationship headed towards a lavish wedding celebration ended in a fatal push off a cliff at Lohagad Hill fort and the arrest of Agarwal’s fiancée, Siya Praveen Goyal (20), and her lover, Chetan Babulal Chaudhary (22). A probe by Pune Rural police reveals a chronology of the case. The death initially appeared to be an accident. However, information shared by Agarwal’s family regarding recent disputes between the couple, combined with intelligence inputs and technical evidence including call detail records, led investigators to suspect foul play.

Oppn’s reaction: A day after an investigation by The Indian Express revealed massive land purchases linked to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s family and associated real estate firms, the Congress on Monday launched an attack, demanding answers to what it described as a potential conflict between public office and private land acquisitions. Addressing a press conference, state Congress president Jitu Patwari alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had become synonymous with corruption and questioned the rapid expansion of land holdings linked to the Chief Minister’s family.

Lucknow fire probe: An application submitted a decade ago by the owner of the Aliganj building that caught fire on Monday, killing 15 people, led to the revocation of a demolition order issued over unauthorised construction. The owner, in the application, claimed he had not been given an opportunity to present his case before the demolition decision was taken. Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) Vice-Chairman Prathmesh Kumar told The Indian Express that a 15-day demolition notice has been issued. He said the officer who had issued a demolition notice a decade ago but later revoked it would also face action, and that the LDA has recommended to the state government that appropriate disciplinary proceedings be initiated against him.

📌 Must Read

An unravelling: The sudden implosion of regional parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) within weeks of its defeat in West Bengal and a second split set to take place in the Shiv Sena (UBT) has signalled shifting sands. And in time, other regional parties could also be headed in the same direction, writes Neerja Chowdhury in her weekly column. “It is the speed with which the parties are unravelling and the scale on which the splits are taking place that have taken many by surprise… A new legitimacy is now being frequently granted to the acquisition of a majority by breaking parties. Forget the moral compasses that existed in the years gone by; gone also are the fig leaves that once existed,” Chowdhury adds.

FB Live and an encounter: Since June 17, when Kashinath’s 28-year-old son, Bharat Bhushan Tiwari – known to take up local issues – was killed in a police encounter, politicians across party lines have continued to flock to his residence. However, the encounter, which came after a two-day standoff that was live-streamed to his 1.6 lakh Facebook subscribers, itself is now a subject of intense scrutiny. While police claim that Tiwari was armed and “mentally unsound”, leading them to shoot him in self-defence, Tiwari’s family and village residents allege he was fatally shot after agreeing to surrender, citing a Facebook Live video that purportedly shows him throwing down his gun.

AI race: In our Opinion section today, C Raja Mohan delves into India’s place in tech giant Elon Musk-led revolution, involving “embodied intelligence” that could produce societies of “universal high income”. This age of physical AI has put a big question mark over India’s reliance on abundant cheap labour. Mohan writes: “Self-reliance rhetoric is no substitute for strategy here. Unlike China, India cannot isolate its robotics ambitions from the world; its near-term task is to combine international collaboration with the patient building of domestic research, design, and manufacturing capability.”

⏳ And Finally…

The bodyguard: My colleague Sandip G, who is reporting live from the FIFA World Cup 2026, points out Rodrigo de Paul’s unflinching commitment to Lionel Messi in the game. The Argentinian press refers to de Paul as Messi’s bodyguard – the protective shield. He writes: “Messi can be watched in isolation, at walking pace, with an impermeable halo around him, a fulfilling experience in itself. But to admire Messi, the viewer should admire de Paul too. It is difficult because they are not often together, not in each other’s shadows, not indulging in one-twos or interplays, and not passing the ball to each other or assisting. But you miss de Paul, you miss a part of Messi too.”

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the Express Investigation into land acquired by MP CM’s family across Ujjain; the assault of two NGO workers in Odisha’s Rayagada district; as well as the detention of a Rajasthan-based content creator who shared a video critical of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Until next time,
Ariba

Business As Usual by E P Unny