BKTC suspends private secretary Pramod Nautiyal after irregularities surface in donation counting at Badrinath Dham.

After a four-person team started looking into irregularities in the handling of donations at Badrinath Dham on Tuesday, an employee of the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee was suspended. The Badrinath temple and different sites in Uttarakhand are administered by BKTC, a statutory agency. Speaking to PTI, BKTC Chairman Hemant Dwivedi said Pramod Nautiyal was suspended following a preliminary investigation that found prima facie violation. Nautiyal was employed as a private secretary by the temple committee. Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government has also formed an investigative committee. The Garhwal Division Commissioner will serve as the chair of the three-person committee. The committee has been instructed by Tourism Secretary Dhiraj Singh Garbyal to provide the government with its investigative report and recommendations within 15 days. Dwivedi emphasized that the BKTC has a zero-tolerance attitude on corruption and that any employee found guilty during an investigation will face severe departmental and legal repercussions.

The issue gained attention after allegations of irregularities found during the counting of offerings at Badrinath Dham surfaced on social media. Subsequently, an organisation named 'Bhairav ​​Sena' lodged a complaint demanding an inquiry and the registration of an FIR. Following this, BKTC formed a four-member panel last week. The team included Finance Controller Hem Kandpal, Legal Officer SS Bartwal, Chief Administrative Officer Rajan Naithani, and Kedarnath's Senior Administrative Officer DS Bhujwan. The committee initiated the investigation based on CCTV footage, statements from the concerned employees, and other relevant documents.

The replacement of CCTV cameras has been questioned in the interim. The CEO of BKTC explained that the replacement was a standard procedure and that all of the previous DVRs' records had been saved for use in the inquiry. The Congress has criticized the Pushkar Singh Dhami government in the state after similar claims of alleged theft at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya surfaced at Badrinath Dham. Ganesh Godiyal, the head of the Uttarakhand Congress, called for a court investigation or a combined Legislative Assembly committee to look into the whole issue.