LUCKNOW, AUGUST 18: Eight temple counting room workers remain in judicial custody as the Special Investigation Team examining donation misappropriation at the Ayodhya Ram Temple submitted its initial findings to state authorities. The report cleared former general secretary Champat Rai and former trustee Anil Mishra of direct involvement in the theft, attributing the missing funds to specific operational staff.
The official investigation began after Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan Pandey alleged on June 7 that between Rs 5 crore and Rs 7.5 crore had been siphoned off from temple offerings.
Police officers probing the matter affirmed that security footage revealed extensive cash concealment inside the counting facilities.
“The initial findings revealed that cash thefts occurred roughly 70 times in the counting room between April 27 and June 5, 2026, with security footage showing staff concealing notes,” investigating officers stated, pointing to non-compliance with standard operating procedures agreed upon between the trust and the State Bank of India.
In response to the preliminary findings submitted on June 23, trust member Krishna Mohan lodged a formal complaint that led to the immediate arrest of eight cash-handling personnel.
The 15-member trust, constituted by the Central Government in 2020 following the Supreme Court’s 2019 title dispute verdict, had earlier reported receiving Rs 82.78 crore in total offerings between April 1, 2025 and February 28, 2026. State authorities confirmed that the Supreme Court-supervised secondary panel will continue overseeing the broader investigation into institutional security and accounting mechanisms.
