Ayodhya, July 7 -- Champat Rai, who resigned as General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, has broken his silence for the first time regarding the theft of offerings from the Ram Mandir donation box.

Champat Rai issued a letter to Ram devotees to present his side of the matter, on Tuesday, a day after his resignation was accepted during a Trust meeting.

In his letter, Champat Rai stated that various speculations have been circulating following the alleged embezzlement that occurred during the counting of donations from the Ram Mandir complex's donation box on June 7 and that numerous baseless allegations have been leveled against him personally.

This is why he had maintained silence until now.

He noted that the ...