The demand for every product and service related to Bhagwan Shri Ram and Ram Mandir is at its peak so much that the supply is falling short. Devotees are waiting in anticipation for the Pran Pratishtha on 22nd January.
This has also become an opportune moment for grifters to make the most out of common people. VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal took to X, formerly Twitter, to call out fake advertisements linked to the Ram Mandir.
“Sometimes for VIP darshan and sometimes for Prasad sitting at home, many advertisements are being made to mislead Ram devotees and are trying to deceive them. Many such advertisements are also being seen on websites like @amazon! Society has to be cautious of them. @ShriRamTeerth has not authorized anyone to do these things. Don’t fall into anyone’s trap. These websites should also remove such false advertisements immediately, otherwise, we will be forced to take legal action,” he wrote.
Bansal also shared images of the fake advertisements which were claiming to sell “Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad” on the retail website Amazon. He also shared the image of a website called Khadi Organic which had been claiming to distribute prasad for free from the Pran Pratishtha ceremony for a shipping price of Rs 51.
Another fraud by gangs from Jamtara and Mewat has reportedly been raised by netizens. A video of a shopkeeper’s confrontation with one such fraudster over a phone call has gone viral.
In the video, a trickster posing as a representative of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra called a shopkeeper who was aware of the fraud.
The shopkeeper attends the call and is greeted by a man posing as a representative of Shri Ram Mandir Seva Trust, when no such trust exists.
He says that the trust is calling from UP to all Hindu devotees across India. He then talks about Pran Pratishtha and demands a donation. In return for their donation, he promises that the names of such donors will be engraved in the walls of the temple in gold.
The shopkeeper then extracts more details of the fraud by pretending to be trapped into the fraud. He asks the fraudster if he can donate when he will be visiting the temple on 22nd January. However, the fraudster insists that he donate the money online through gpay, phonepay or paytm.
He says that if the amount is too big then the donor can transfer through bank details. He then sends a QR code which includes a bank account number too and has the logo of SBI.
As soon as the shopkeeper reveals to the fraudster that he is fooling no one, the latter turns aggressive and abusive. The fraudster says, “What will you do about it? The country is full of c*. Do whatever you think you can.”
When told that he is being recorded on video, he is baffled and tell the shopkeeper not to release the video and cuts the call immediately.
Meanwhile, Khadi Organic has already been in the news for its claims that it will distribute free prasad across the country on 22nd January.
As per Jansatta, the brand is run by NRI Ashish Singh who works in Meta in the US. Meanwhile, his company Khadi Organic is not linked to the Ram Mandir Trust or any government institution.
The company charged Rs 51 to deliver the prasad of Ram Mandir online. The offer managed to hit the news. However, according to Live mint, some netizens claimed this was a scam or a “marketing strategy”.
Another social media user reportedly claimed that as soon as the users tagged Khadi Organic, they stopped taking orders. Whereas Jansatta claimed that the bookings are closed on the website owing to “huge demand”.
Another user raised suspicion pointing out that the additional director of the company is Noor Fahad. Moreover, the director of Khadi Organics put our a clarification video on YouTube.