Mumbai, June 26 (AHN) Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut on Friday demanded the filing of an FIR against Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and urged for its dissolution, while maintaining that the mere resignations of its General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra "won't be of any help".

During an exclusive interaction with AHN, Raut spoke about the alleged theft of donations at Ayodhya's Ram Temple, the switchover of six MPs to the Shinde faction and the future of the INDIA bloc.

Excerpts from the interview:

AHN: Amid the row over alleged missing funds at the Ram Temple, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra resigned from their positions on Friday. What is your take?

Sanjay Raut: What will Champat Rai's resignation achieve? A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, and it submitted its report. They arrested a few minor individuals, but the entire Trust should be dissolved.

Thefts have been taking place at the Ram Temple for such a long time; how come the Trust did not come to know about it?

Akhilesh Yadav was the first one to raise the issue; only after that was there an outcry over it.

Both Champat Rai and Anil Mishra knew what was going on. All those who were involved in counting the donations were known to them. So an FIR should be lodged against the entire Trust, and it should be dissolved.

AHN: The allegations of theft are at the abode of Lord Ram. What do you have to say on that?

Sanjay Raut: The embezzlement took place at the temple of Lord Ram, who brought the BJP to power. The 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony was observed at such a grand level, and people from across the world were invited.

CCTV cameras were put up at the temple, and still, donations were being stolen for a long time. No one had any clue about it?

AHN: Uddhav Thackeray, you and other Shiv Sena-UBT leaders are on a three-day tour of the constituencies of those Lok Sabha MPs who switched over to the Shinde faction. Do you agree that the rebel MPs broke the trust of the party leadership?

Sanjay Raut: Yes, but what can we do? This is the result of trusting such people.

(The conscience of) These people got sold out for Rs 50 crores. Trinamool Congress MPs were sold for Rs 5-10 crores. The rate is higher in Mumbai, so all six MPs got sold for Rs 50-80 crores.

We have all the information on where the money came from, to whom it was delivered and even where the money was placed. The ED (Enforcement Directorate) and the police also know about it, but they won't do anything about it.

So, Uddhav Thackeray and all of us will go to these six places, since those areas are the root of the Shiv Sena.

AHN: You, Arvind Sawant and other Shiv Sena-UBT leaders had met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla regarding the exits. Do you still believe justice will be served?

Sanjay Raut: If there were any hope of justice, we should have received it when Eknath Shinde left the party with 40 MLAs. A person who leaves the party using the power of money is handed control of our original party. We sought justice before the Election Commission and even approached the Supreme Court, but our case was not even heard. So, what justice are you talking about?

AHN: What do you have to say about Sanjay Dina Patil, given the kind of abusive language he used against the media? Do you think it is good that he left the Uddhav faction?

Sanjay Raut: Actually, he did not have any reason to leave the party. What were the reasons for the six to leave the party?

Citing a lack of funds is a lie.

All of the six MPs (who left Shiv Sena-UBT) were voted to power by Shiv Sena-UBT voters. Uddhav Thackeray appealed for votes on their behalf. If they were not made the candidates and people did not vote for them against the BJP and the Shinde faction, then how could they become MPs?

The thing is, they sold themselves for Rs 50 crores.

AHN: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 55.57 crore belonging to Punjab Minister and AAP leader Sanjeev Arora and his company Hampton Sky Realty Limited. What would you say?

Sanjay Raut: Sanjeev Arora is a man of great integrity. He has been implicated in a false case simply because he has always remained loyal and committed to his party. Whenever the issue of loyalty arises, the Bharatiya Janata Party puts loyal people in jail in false cases.

AHN: How do you look at the future of the INDIA bloc? Uddhav Thackeray mentioned during the alliance meeting that 'in order to fight the BJP, we need to have unity in deciding the Prime Ministerial candidate'.

Sanjay Raut: We had said this in 2024 as well that we have to go into the elections with a Prime Ministerial face, because we need to assure the voters that if our (alliance) comes to power, this particular individual will be the Prime Minister.