The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday ordered an investigation into allegations that elected representatives and state government officials and their relatives bought land parcels in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court verdict paved the way for a Ram temple, PTI reported.

Additional Chief Secretary, Information Navneet Sehgal told the news agency that Chief Minister Adityanath has ordered the revenue department to investigate the matter thoroughly.

According to a report in The Indian Express on Wednesday, at least 15 people who bought land parcels in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court judgement were local politicians, close relatives of government officials currently posted in the district or have served there before, and revenue officers who cleared land transactions.

In at least three of the transactions, the buyers were allegedly relatives of government officials, who were investigating allegations of irregularities by the seller, according to the newspaper.

The report said that the seller in these cases is Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust, which had allegedly acquired about 52,000 square metres of land from a dozen Dalit families by using a person from the community, identified as Ronghai, employed with the trust as a conduit in 1992.

The trust allegedly acquired the land for Rs 6.38 lakh and the value of the land at the current circle rate is said to be between Rs 4.25 crore and Rs 9.58 crore, according to The Indian Express. The circle rate is the price per unit area that is set by the government for land parcels, below which property transactions cannot be registered.

An assistant record officer, allegedly involved in the purchase of a land parcel, is now said to be hearing the cases against the trust.