Petition in Allahabad HC to open 20 rooms in Taj Mahal and ascertain whether Hindu idols and inscriptions are hidden there

NEW DELHI: A petition has been filed at the Allahabad high court to open 20 rooms inside the Taj Mahal in Agra to find out whether Hindu idols and inscriptions are hidden there. The petition is to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The petition which is yet to come up for hearing is filed by Dr Rajneesh Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) media in-charge of Ayodhya district.

Advocate Rudra Vikram Singh is representing the petitioner in court.

“There is an old controversy related to the Taj Mahal. Around 20 rooms in Taj Mahal are locked and no one is allowed to enter. It is believed that in these rooms there are idols of Hindu gods and scriptures,” said Dr Rajneesh Singh.

“I have filed a petition in the high court seeking directives to ASI to open these rooms to ascertain facts. There is no harm in opening these rooms and setting to rest all controversies,” said Singh on Sunday.

Rajneesh Singh said he has been trying to find out the facts about the 20 locked rooms of Taj Mahal since 2020 through the Right to Information Act (RTI).

“Since 2020, I have been trying to ascertain facts about the locked rooms of Taj Mahal. I had filed an RTI. Replying to the RTI, the Union ministry of Culture informed the Central Information Commission (in Delhi) that these rooms were locked due to security reasons and no detail was provided about these rooms,” he added.

“In the RTI, I had sought details about the locked rooms (what is inside them) and directives to open them,” Singh said.

“When all my efforts failed then I have approached the Lucknow high court seeking directives to the government to open these rooms and constitute a fact-finding committee to find out whether Hindu gods and scriptures are inside them,” he added.

In 2015, a petition was filed claiming that it was a Shiva Temple which was dismissed by ASI.