JAMMU: The alleged ₹550-crore “fake silver” offerings controversy at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine has come under judicial scrutiny, with a Jammu court directing the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhawan, Katra, to submit a detailed enquiry report and take appropriate action on an application seeking urgent preservation of evidence.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Jammu Munish Kumar Manhas passed the directions on July 29. The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 18.
The proceedings arose from an application filed by Advocate Deepak Sharma in connection with his complaint alleging adulteration, substitution, pilferage and possible misappropriation of nearly 20 tonnes of silver offerings made by devotees at the shrine, reportedly valued at about ₹550 crore.
The allegations have not yet been established, and the matter remains at the enquiry stage.
Sharma had initially submitted the complaint to the Inspector General of Police, Crime Branch, Jammu, and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, Economic Offences Wing, Jammu, on May 9.
According to a report placed before the court by the SSP Crime Branch, EOW Jammu, the complaint was received on May 11 and forwarded to Crime Headquarters on May 20 for approval regarding further action.
Crime Headquarters approved its reference to the Zonal Police Headquarters, Jammu, on June 9. It was subsequently forwarded to the Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, on June 13.
The matter was later referred to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Reasi, for enquiry and ultimately entrusted to the DySP Bhawan, Katra. The report did not mention the registration of an FIR.
During the July 29 hearing, Sharma filed a detailed application seeking the immediate preservation of physical, documentary and electronic evidence connected with the alleged transactions.
The plea sought protection of the remaining silver or purported silver articles, samples, remnants and residues, besides stock and vault records, weighing and dispatch registers, assay and laboratory reports, Government Mint records, transportation documents and chain-of-custody records.
It also sought preservation of CCTV footage, electronic inventory data, official emails, server logs, access records, audit trails, accounting records and reconciliation statements.
The application submitted that any further melting, refining, transfer or processing of the physical material, or deletion and overwriting of electronic records, could irreversibly affect the identity, composition, weight, purity and chain of custody of the evidence.
Taking the application on record, the court directed the DySP Bhawan to take appropriate action regarding the facts stated in the evidence-preservation plea and submit a detailed report on the enquiry on the next date of hearing.
Reacting to the order, Sharma said the pending enquiry and the preservation of potentially crucial evidence had now been brought under direct judicial scrutiny.
“My immediate concern is to ensure that no physical, documentary or electronic evidence is altered, melted, transferred, destroyed, deleted or overwritten,” he said.
