The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Centre, UP Government and the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on three PILs seeking an independent probe by the CBI under the top court’s direct supervision into the finances of the Trust following allegations of misappropriation of donations at Ram Temple, Ayodhya.A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Uttar Pradesh Government to file a status report, mentioning the composition of the SIT, in a sealed cover and posted the matter for hearing on Monday.The order came after Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, submitted on behalf of the Centre and the UP Government that an SIT set up by the state government was already probing the case.The Bench did not agree with Mehta’ request to defer the issuance of notice to the Trust at this juncture.Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused urgent listing of these petitions during the partial working days.The first PIL filed by Narendra Kumar Goswami, a petitioner-in-person, sought a CBI probe into the matter and an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of the finances of the Trust which manages the Ram temple at Ayodhya.The second one by petitioners-in-person advocates Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav has also sought a fair and time-bound probe by a CBI-led multi-disciplinary SIT into allegations of misappropriation of donations at the Ayodhya Ram Temple. They wanted the SIT to investigate the alleged financial irregularities and other purported “illegalities” concerning the affairs and administration of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.Filed by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, the third PIL sought transfer of the ongoing probe to the CBI under top court’s direct supervision.Citing an ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe and the reported recovery of Rs 77 lakh from the eight accused arrested in the case, the PIL filed by RJD MP from Buxar submitted that it’s of exceptional public importance to safeguard the administration of the Trust and protect the offerings made by millions of devotees.Singh sought a comprehensive forensic audit of all donations, transactions and assets of the Trust by an independent agency. The Trust should be directed to publish audited financial statements and donation records on its official website in the interest of public transparency, the PIL demanded.The PIL also sought directions to preserve all financial records, including physical documents, digital ledgers, UPI transaction logs and bank statements, to prevent any alleged tampering with evidence and an order restraining the Trust from undertaking major investments, entering into substantial contracts or taking significant financial decisions without the prior approval of the proposed Oversight Committee.Singh wanted the top court to appoint a temporary, court-monitored Oversight Committee consisting of retired judicial officers and financial experts to oversee the Trust’s secular financial affairs during the pendency of the investigation.Some other petitions seeking similar reliefs are also pending before the Allahabad High Court as well.On June 13, the Uttar Pradesh Government set up a three-member SIT at the request of the temple trust to look into allegations of financial irregularities and misappropriation of donations at the Ayodhya Ram Temple.The SIT comprising Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General of Police Kiran S, and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan submitted its preliminary report to the Uttar Pradesh Government on June 23 following which an FIR has been registered and Ayodhya Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ashutosh Tiwari is the lead investigating officer of the case.Eight accused have been arrested. Those arrested have been identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav. They were associated with the counting of cash and valuables received as donations at the temple.