High Court Rejects Petition Requesting Probe Into Disappearance of 130 Kg Gold from Mahudi Temple

A PIL requesting an investigation into the reported misappropriation of 130kg of gold and millions of rupees from the Shri Ghantakarna Mahaveer Mandir was rejected by the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agrawal and Justice Pranav Trivedi of the Gujarat High Court.

Mahudi in Gandhinagar has a temple that is visited by pilgrims. The petition requested the state government to conduct an audit of accounts from 2012 to 2024 and establish a committee to investigate the embezzlement. During the hearing of the petition, the High Court bench mentioned that the petitioner has the option to go to the Charity Commissioner's office and that the court doesn't have the authority to demand an investigation. It dismissed the appeal.

Accusations of misconduct have surfaced against the trustees of Ghantakarna Mahavir Mandir in Mahudi. Bhupendra Vora and Kamlesh Mehta, two trustees of the Mahudi temple, are accused of engaging in misconduct totaling over Rs. 140 million in money and 130 kilograms of gold.

The Jain temple of Sri Ghantakarna Mahavir holds great religious and cultural significance, being more than one hundred years old. The petition claimed the current committee was formed unlawfully and also alleged the committee members engaged in misconduct during the demonetization in 2016. It was claimed that individuals swapped old notes for a 20% fee. 130 kg of gold went missing from the temple and more than Rs14 crore were stolen.