Ayodhya Ram Mandir Donation Theft Case: Did The Trust Know About The Scam Before FIR?

The Ram Mandir donation theft case gathered significant momentum as fresh CCTV footage surfaced, simultaneous police raids were executed across Ayodhya and surrounding districts, and explosive new claims emerged suggesting the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had known about the alleged embezzlement well before the matter ever became public. Accountability, it appears, was on a long holiday.

Sources revealed that Trust representatives, acting on instructions from General Secretary Champat Rai , accompanied police to the residence of accused Avinash Shukla as early as June 5, where cash was reportedly recovered on the spot. Yet no formal complaint was filed. No FIR was registered. The informal search remained buried in institutional silence for two full days before the scandal exploded into the public domain on June 7. Authorities have issued no official statement addressing this glaring delay, which speaks as loudly as anything else in this case.

A 24-second CCTV clip that emerged shows Shukla being escorted by police personnel to a white vehicle, carrying a black bag allegedly containing the recovered cash. Meanwhile, the first photograph of accused Ramashankar Mishra also entered the public domain.

Ayodhya Police conducted simultaneous raids, accompanied by local magistrates, at the homes of all eight accused spread across Ayodhya, Faizabad and surrounding districts. The searches targeted documents, cash, jewellery and other assets allegedly acquired through misappropriation of sacred donations. Among those targeted were Lav Kush Mishra , Avinash Shukla and Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu , identified as a key figure who allegedly used his proximity to Champat Rai to place his cousin Manish Yadav in the temple's cash-counting team. Investigators arrived at Tinnu's residence to find it locked, his wife having conveniently departed before their arrival. The residence of Manish Yadav was also found locked.

The Special Investigation Team probe has unearthed staggering details. A total of Rs 79,85,493 in cash, along with foreign currency , was recovered from six of the eight arrested. No cash was found at the residence of accused Subhash Srivastava , a retired State Bank of India employee who allegedly supervised donation counting and is said to have recruited other participants while assigning counting duties. In what may be the most brazen detail yet, Rs 2.5 lakh was recovered from a washroom located near the donation counting room. Stolen items reportedly include jewellery offered by devotees such as earrings, nose rings, bangles intended for the Ram Lalla idol and anklets. The SIT has flagged that counting staff were never frisked when leaving the premises, a basic security protocol that was simply never followed.

All eight accused, including Anukalp Mishra , Karunesh Pandey and Ramashankar Mishra , remain in judicial custody until June 29. Police are expected to seek custodial remand when they are produced before the court.

The political theatre continued with full vigour. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav , speaking in Prayagraj, deployed the proverb "darkness beneath the lamp" to describe how irregularities thrived under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's very frequent and very well-publicised Ayodhya visits. He coined a new slogan, "Jinhone churai Ram ki pai," and declared the BJP gang would not escape "God's audit."

The controversy has also drawn in Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut , who alleged that a 4 kg silver brick donated by party chief Uddhav Thackeray , along with Rs 1 crore, has never been acknowledged by the Trust with so much as a receipt. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal dismissed the FIR as an eyewash designed to shield powerful figures while making scapegoats of junior staff, alleging that diamonds, precious stones, 200 kg of silver and Rs 200 crore in cash had been stolen. Congress leader KC Venugopal demanded a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge, while the VHP called for complete transparency and a result-oriented investigation within months. The SBI and Punjab National Bank , which manage temple accounts, remain under active scrutiny.