Kashi Vishwanath to get back stolen ornaments after 23 yrs

Varanasi, Oct 30 (UNI) The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court today ordered that gold and silver ornaments stolen from the Kashi Vishwanath temple here in 1983 and kept in the district treasury be handed over to Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust on November 2.

Hearing a plea filed by the Trust, CJM P N Srivastava ordered the 2.55 kg gold and 5.82 kg silver ornaments be handed over to the Trust between 1030 and 1600 hrs on November 2.

The CJM also directed the entire process be conducted in the presence of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Trust, its counsel, public prosecutor and the Chief Treasurer of Varanasi.

Besides, the court ordered that after the completion of the entire process of release, the Chief treasurer will notify the court the order compliance report. A representative of the court will also be present during the entire process.

The ornaments were stolen in January 1983 from the temple. Later, the stolen valuables were recovered and six persons accused of committing the burglary -- Markandey Singh, Satyaprakash Singh, Vinod Singh, Rakesh Singh, Bhagauti and Banarasi. They were later arrested.

On September 7, 2000, Additional CJM (II) Chandra Bhushan Singh held them guilty of the crime and sentenced them to two to six years in jail alongwith fine ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 25,000.

The courts verdict was challenged in the Sessions Court, but Additional Sessions Judge (XII) Shyam Raj, on June 19, 2002 dismissed the petition and upheld the earlier court verdict.

In August last, former Uttar Pradesh minister and general secretary of Citizen Forum Shatrudhra Prakash filed a PIL in the Allahabad High Court, seeking the release of the ornaments lying in treasury.

A division bench of the HC comprising Justices B S Chauhan and Pankaj Mittal had directed the Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi -- also the ex officio chairman of the Temple Trust -- to submit a plea before an appropriate court as early as possible to get the ornaments back to the temple.

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