Mumbai: The trustees of Siddhivinayak temple have refused to resign in the wake of the controversy involving alleged embezzlement of temple funds and blamed staffers appointed by the erstwhile dispensation under Uddhav Thackeray for a series of thefts. MNS chief Raj Thackeray had alleged that Rs 18 crore was being stolen from the temple’s public donations every year.Calling themselves whistleblowers, the trustees, led by chairman and senior Shiv Sena politician Sada Sarvankar, told reporters that they caught nine employees for theft in March and wrote to the law and judiciary department seeking a probe. “Once we stopped the scam, the temple’s income increased from Rs 40-45 lakh to Rs 80-90 lakh per month,” said Sarvankar.The law and judiciary department has asked the temple to furnish a report and reportedly ordered two senior accused officials, who handle the temple’s day-to-day management, to reply to its notice within seven days.Asked if the trustees would take accountability and resign, like Champat Rai and Anil Kumar Mishra did over the Ram temple donations theft, Sarvankar and another trustee, Rahul Londhe, refused. “Why should we resign? For exposing the case?” Sarvankar said.An employee, Rajendra Pendurkar, who had been working at the temple since 2009, was arrested in March for stealing cash from the donation box. Within a few days, eight staffers were arrested for stealing money through a “skimming” racket. All arrested employees were permanent staffers and Rs 80,000 was recovered from them. The sum embezzled is expected to be far higher.Sarvankar claimed that Pendurkar was affiliated to his rival Shiv Sena (UBT) shakha in Prabhadevi and was hired by former mayor Vishakha Raut of Sena (UBT).“We did not write a letter to deputy CM Shinde (as claimed by Raj) seeking an inquiry. We approached the law and judiciary department for an audit and probe,” said Londhe. Sarvankar claimed this was a plot to defame Shinde and the temple trust.Sarvankar and Londhe said shortcomings such as employees not being frisked upon exit, touts taking money to facilitate darshan, CCTV footage not being monitored will be addressed.A series of thefts and misdemeanours have plagued Siddhivinayak temple over the years. In 2021, a group of flower-sellers and shopkeepers, acting as touts, were arrested for arranging out-of-turn darshan for devotees in return for a fee. The fraud was run online by booking all available slots for darshan.
