RG Kar victim's father faces row over alleged demand to route temple donations to his home

A fresh controversy has erupted in West Bengal after Shekhar Ranjan Debnath, father of the RG Kar rape and murder victim and husband of BJP Panihati MLA Ratna Debnath, allegedly sought to have donations collected from the historic Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Temple deposited at his residence following the annual Danda Mahotsav.

The 510-year-old festival, held along the banks of the Ganga in Panihati, drew lakhs of devotees last Saturday.

As every year, large donations were collected through multiple offering boxes placed inside and outside the temple.

According to the temple authorities, Debnath visited the temple on the eve of the festival along with several associates and allegedly instructed priest Bankubihari Bandyopadhyay that all money collected from the donation boxes should be taken to his residence after the event, where it would be counted.

The allegations gained traction after an audio clip of an alleged conversation between the priest and another individual surfaced on social media.

While the authenticity of the recording has not been independently verified, both individuals heard in the clip have reportedly acknowledged that the conversation took place.

Speaking to local media, priest Bankubihari Bandyopadhyay said Debnath first asked who owned the temple keys and donation boxes before directing that all offerings be brought to his house.

The priest claimed he refused, insisting that any such instruction would have to be issued in writing by the local MLA.

Rejecting the allegations, Shekhar Ranjan Debnath said his only concern was the poor condition of the temple's infrastructure.

He maintained that he had merely suggested forming a trustee board so that public donations could be used for the temple's development.

On the allegation that the money was to be counted at his residence, he said he had no knowledge of such an arrangement and suggested committee members may have made those remarks.

Panihati Danda Mahotsav Committee president and BJP leader Kishore Kar also denied witnessing any such incident, describing the controversy as a misunderstanding.

The issue has triggered political sparring, with CPM leader Shubhabrata Chakraborty alleging that the episode exposed no difference between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress on questions of corruption, and claiming the reported demand regarding temple donations had unmasked the BJP's conduct.