On Sunday, two opposition parties of Uttar Pradesh accused the Ram Mandir Trust set up by the centre last year of pulling off an illicit land deal in Ayodhya.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) & the Samajwadi Party (SP) claimed that the transaction took place in March this year. The alleged March transaction involved two real estate dealers allegedly purchasing a property from an individual for ₹ 2 crore and selling it minutes later  to the Trust for ₹ 18.5 crore, according to the allegation.

These fraud-allegations are significant as the Ram temple in Ayodhya is an emotive issue in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due next year.

The temple body, ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’ has brushed the charge aside as frivolous. The trust has strongly denied allegations of corruption levelled by opposition parties, in land purchase.

Also See: Arguments over Central Vista project

The Trust issued a statement around midnight on Sunday. In the statement, it said that the current sellers had a registered agreement years ago at a price, and after the ‘bainama’ (sale deed) on March 18, they sold it to the Trust.

The statement was signed by Trust secretary Champat Rai. It said, “After the Supreme Court order, a lot of people started coming to Ayodhya to purchase land, and as the UP government is also purchasing a lot of land for development works, the land price increased suddenly. The land on which discussion has started is very close to the railway station and therefore, is at a very important location. All the land purchased by the Trust is purchased at a price much lower than the market price.”

Earlier on Sunday, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had claimed that the stamp papers for the first purchase were bought at 5.11 p.m., and for the second at 5.22 p.m. He also alleged that in between, the price of the land had increased manifold. Singh has demanded a probe by the CBI or ED as it concerns religious beliefs of crores of people.

There was another press conference held in Ayodhya by Samajwadi Party leader and former MLA, Pawan Pandey. The MLA raised similar questions, “A piece of land was bought for Rs 2 crore in which trustees were witnesses. Did the land start giving out gold that it was bought for Rs 18.5 crore, barely a few minutes later?”

In the deal, Trustee Anil Mishra is the witness along with Mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay.

The Trust statement, however, said that the propaganda by parties on the issue was misleading and was politically motivated.