Key Highlights of the Ram Mandir Donation Theft Case
- Champat Rai resigned as General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on June 26, 2026, taking moral responsibility for the donation theft case.
- Trustee Anil Mishra also stepped down the same day, making it a double exit from the trust's top leadership.
- An FIR was registered under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in connection with the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
- 8 people have been arrested so far, including temple employees, cash counting staff, and former bank officials who worked together to siphon money from devotees' offerings.
- A three-member SIT formed by CM Yogi Adityanath has already submitted a 150-page report, and discrepancies were found not just in cash but also in gold, silver, and precious stones offered at the temple.
The alleged Ram Mandir donation theft case has triggered one of the biggest controversies around the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust since the temple’s inauguration. Champat Rai has resigned as General Secretary of the Trust, while trustee Anil Mishra has also stepped down, citing moral responsibility. The resignations come after eight people were arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in the handling of temple donations in Ayodhya.
The case has drawn national attention not only because of the alleged cash theft but also because investigators have reportedly raised questions over the accounting of gold, silver jewellery and precious stones offered by devotees. With a SIT report submitted and the investigation still underway, the controversy has brought temple donation management, accountability and public faith into sharp focus.
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Champat Rai and Anil Mishra Resign from Ram Mandir Trust
Champat Rai has resigned as General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, a day after 8 people were arrested in connection with the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Trustee Anil Mishra also put in his papers on the same day. Both cited moral responsibility for stepping down.
The resignations came amid growing pressure following a wave of arrests and a 150-page SIT report that pointed to serious gaps in how donations were being managed at the temple. The Trust, set up to manage the Ram Mandir and its resources, has been under a scanner since earlier this month when allegations of large-scale misappropriation of funds first came to light.
Those arrested include Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ram Shankar Yadav, also known as Tinnu. All of them were involved in handling, counting, or processing cash and other offerings at the temple.
How the Ram Mandir Donation Theft Allegedly Happened?
This is the part that deserves more attention than it has received. The way the money was stolen was not sloppy or rushed. It was planned and ran for a while before anyone flagged it.
Temple employees who were in charge of counting donations would quietly add extra notes to currency bundles before handing them over to bank officials for verification. The bank officials, in turn, only counted the number of bundles, not the individual notes inside. So on paper, everything matched. The vouchers were correct, the declared amounts tallied, and nothing looked out of place. After the bank's check was done, the extra notes were pulled out and pocketed.
During searches at the home of one accused, Lavkush Mishra, investigators recovered around Rs 10 lakh in cash. Part of it was found inside a cupboard. The rest was hidden beneath a heap of cow dung in the house. That detail alone tells you a lot about how long this had been going on.
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What Most Reports Are Not Talking About
Investigators found discrepancies in the documentation and accounting of gold, silver jewellery, and precious stones, including diamonds, that devotees had offered to Lord Ram. Several trust and temple office-bearers could not give satisfactory answers about the inventory, storage, and accounting of these items. The SIT asked trust functionaries not to leave Ayodhya as these discrepancies came to light.
The scale of what may have been lost in non-cash offerings has not been discussed much. Temples like the Ram Mandir receive enormous amounts of gold, silver, and ornaments from devotees every single day. If the accounting for those items was also being mismanaged, the total loss could be far bigger than what the cash theft numbers suggest.
CM Yogi on Ram Mandir Theft Case
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pushed back at opposition parties for using the case for political gain, pointing out that those raising the loudest objections now were the same people who had once opposed the construction of the Ram Mandir. He said the state government would maintain a zero-tolerance stand against anyone who tries to damage public faith in the temple or its management.
The SIT, led by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, IG Kiran S, and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan, has already handed its 150-page report to the CM. The investigation is still going.
What Comes Next for Ram Mandir?
With Champat Rai and Anil Mishra gone, the Trust will need new leadership at a time when it is already under pressure from all sides. The SIT is still working, more arrests cannot be ruled out, and the question of what happened to the gold and other valuables is still unanswered. The Ram Mandir, which became a symbol of national pride just two years ago, is now at the center of a controversy that nobody in its management wanted and few are prepared to deal with.