Somnath Temple Trust indicts two staffers for embezzlement

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The Somnath Temple Trust, which manages affairs of the famous Lord Shiva shrine in Gujarat, has indicted two of its employees for financial irregularities of over Rs 4 lakh, a senior official said today.
"Irregularities have been surfaced in two different cases where two employees of the Trust are found involved in nexus with some traders," Somnath Temple Trust Secretary, P K Lahiri told PTI.
Somnath temple is located near Veraval in Saurashtra on the western coast of the state and is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines.
The trustees include high-profile persons like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP patriarch LK Advani and former state chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

Lahiri said that an internal audit done by the Trust found that the employees concerned syphoned off over Rs 4 lakh.
"We found some irregularities in the bills of December 2013 and February 2014 during the internal fiscal audit. Some amount has been embezzled in the purchase of cameras that are installed for the security purpose, in the Somnath temple," Lahiri said.

Following the audit, an internal probe was ordered, he said.
"We have initiated a probe and appointed a two-member committee including former transport commissioner Pravin Trivedi and an electronics expert, Sandip Shah. We have already chargesheeted the two involved employees," he said.

Lahiri said that the probe team will visit the temple on June 9 for further investigation.
However, no police complaint has been filed by the trust in this connection, he said.