Ram temple donation probe: SIT set for third Ayodhya visit, final report may lead to more arrests

The SIT has been directed to submit its final report by July 15. Investigators are now in the final stage of drafting their conclusions after examining documentary, electronic and oral evidence collected over the past three weeks.

The three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple is set to make a third and final visit to Ayodhya before submitting its final report to the Uttar Pradesh government, people familiar with the matter said. There was a possibility of fresh arrests if the final findings establish the complicity of additional persons, bank employees or others connected with the donation-counting and deposit process, the people quoted above added.

The SIT was in Ayodhya from June 15 to 20 for the first phase of its probe and submitted its preliminary report to the state home department on June 23. It returned to Ayodhya for two days on July 2 and 3. (ANI PHOTO)

The SIT has been directed to submit its final report by July 15. Investigators are now in the final stage of drafting their conclusions after examining documentary, electronic and oral evidence collected over the past three weeks.

The team wants to carry out one last round of field verification in Ayodhya before finalising the report, according to the people familiar with the investigation.

The visit is aimed at reconciling evidence gathered during custodial interrogation of the accused, verifying fresh leads that have emerged during the investigation and completing the reconstruction of the alleged conspiracy.

Officials said the final report is expected to identify the role of every individual found involved in the alleged diversion of temple donations and fix both operational and supervisory accountability.

While eight accused have already been arrested, the investigation has now widened beyond the cash-counting personnel. The SIT is examining the role of several individuals associated with the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, two bank employees involved in the counting and deposit of donations and others connected with the cash-handling process to determine whether the alleged embezzlement involved a larger conspiracy.

Investigators are scrutinising financial transactions, bank records, property documents, electronic evidence and other material to establish the alleged money trail and ascertain whether proceeds of the alleged crime were invested in movable or immovable assets.

The report will also recommend institutional reforms to strengthen transparency and accountability in the counting, handling and banking of donations, besides suggesting measures to eliminate procedural loopholes that allegedly enabled repeated diversion of cash, the people familiar with the matter said.

The latest development comes as Ayodhya Police continue the custodial interrogation of Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra and Karunesh Pandey. Police are independently verifying their claims and examining whether the alleged theft extended beyond cash pilferage during donation counting to the fraudulent collection of donations from devotees. Investigators are also tracing financial transactions to determine whether the accused acquired properties or other assets through cash or digital payments allegedly linked to the diverted donations.

The SIT’s preliminary report had earlier pointed to systemic failures in the temple’s donation-counting mechanism. According to the report, CCTV footage allegedly captured around 70 instances in which personnel engaged in counting donations were seen pocketing currency notes during the counting process.

The preliminary findings also documented repeated violations of the standard operating procedures governing the counting, verification and banking of donations, concluding that mandatory safeguards were either ignored or inadequately enforced, allowing the alleged embezzlement to continue over an extended period.

The preliminary report has brought former senior Trust office bearer Anil Mishra under scrutiny. The report cited alleged supervisory lapses in enforcing the cash-handling protocol despite his role in framing the standard operating procedures governing the donation-counting process.

The investigation took another significant turn after former Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra General Secretary Champat Rai, in his statement before the SIT, reportedly denied knowledge of a February 2025 guideline document governing the donation-counting process, despite it bearing the signatures of Anil Mishra and the then chief manager of the State Bank of India, Naya Ghat branch.

Over the course of the investigation, the SIT has examined CCTV footage, attendance registers, duty rosters, transaction records, bank documents and electronic evidence while recording the statements of Trust officials, bank personnel, cash-counting staff and other witnesses during multiple visits to Ayodhya.

Sources said the final report will comprehensively document the sequence of events, identify institutional and individual lapses, map the alleged conspiracy and recommend further legal and administrative action.

The controversy first surfaced on June 7 when Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan ‘Pawan’ Pandey alleged that donations worth ₹5 crore to ₹7.5 crore were siphoned off from temple offerings. On June 13, the state government set up an SIT comprising Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Panth, inspector general of police (Lucknow range) Kiran S and special secretary (finance) Neel Ratan).

The SIT was in Ayodhya from June 15 to 20 for the first phase of its probe and submitted its preliminary report to the state home department on June 23. It returned to Ayodhya for two days on July 2 and 3.

On June 25, a first information report was registered against eight named accused and other unidentified people under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61 and 3(5), relating to offences such as criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

On June 26, eight men were arrested -- Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey.

Following the arrests, the police showed recovery of ₹79,85,493 from seven of the eight men last month.