Having returned to Lucknow late Friday night after completing two days of intensive field investigation in Ayodhya, the Uttar Pradesh government’s three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has turned the Ram temple donation misappropriation probe into a full-fledged financial forensic audit, reconstructing the temple’s entire donation trail.
The team is mapping over two years of pilgrim footfall since January 2024, when the temple was inaugurated, against actual bank deposits made by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust over a six-year period since its inception on February 5, 2020, according to highly placed government sources.
Before leaving Ayodhya, the SIT sought extensive records from the Trust, including past bank deposit data, cash transaction records, reconciliation statements, deposit slips and day-wise footfall details, the sources added.
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The objective is to scientifically determine whether the steady increase in devotees visiting the temple was proportionately reflected in the Trust’s reported donation receipts or whether any unexplained mismatch points towards systematic diversion of devotees’ offerings before the money entered the banking system.
{{/usCountry}}The objective is to scientifically determine whether the steady increase in devotees visiting the temple was proportionately reflected in the Trust’s reported donation receipts or whether any unexplained mismatch points towards systematic diversion of devotees’ offerings before the money entered the banking system.
{{/usCountry}}The exercise marks the beginning of the documentary forensic stage of the investigation after the SIT completed its field inquiry in Ayodhya. Investigators are expected to scrutinise the records by reconstructing the movement of donations through every stage—from collection and counting to reconciliation and final deposit in the Trust’s bank accounts.
Sources said the financial records sought by the SIT include daily cash deposits, monthly collection trends, bank transaction statements, reconciliation reports and records of daily pilgrim arrivals. These will be examined alongside pilgrimage patterns during weekends, festivals, major religious occasions and the post-Prana Pratishtha surge in devotees to assess whether the growth in donations kept pace with the sharp rise in footfall.
Investigators will also cross-match the banking records with disclosures made by the eight arrested accused during police interrogation, besides comparing them with statements recorded from Trust functionaries, employees and outsourced personnel responsible for handling devotees’ offerings.
Sources said the SIT is reconstructing the temple’s entire financial chain by analysing different phases of its evolution—from the constitution of the Trust in February 2020, the construction period, the Prana Pratishtha ceremony in January 2024 and the unprecedented increase in pilgrim inflow thereafter.
“The objective is to determine whether increasing footfall consistently translated into corresponding growth in donations or whether there were periods where the financial data does not align with the volume of devotees visiting the temple,” a senior official familiar with the investigation said.
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Officials said investigators are attempting to estimate the likely volume of cash donations and valuables generated during ordinary days, weekends, festivals and other major religious events to assess whether the amounts eventually deposited in the Trust’s bank accounts broadly corresponded with expected collections. Any substantial divergence between estimated collections based on footfall and actual deposits is expected to become an important line of investigation.
According to sources, investigators are also examining whether the quantity of cash and valuables received from devotees displayed unusual fluctuations despite sustained growth in pilgrim numbers. The analysis is intended to distinguish normal variations in donation behaviour from patterns that may indicate leakages before the offerings entered the formal banking system.
The SIT will rely on bank deposit records, cash deposit slips, reconciliation reports and other financial documents while comparing them with the statements of Trust office-bearers, employees, outsourced staff and the disclosures made by the arrested accused to identify possible gaps in the donation management process and fix accountability wherever evidence emerges.
Investigators also intend to examine whether the timing, frequency and volume of deposits underwent any noticeable change after the alleged donation theft surfaced. Officials will assess whether tighter monitoring following the arrests resulted in higher daily deposits, a factor that could help determine whether earlier leakages existed within the system.
Officials stressed that no conclusions have been drawn and that the exercise is intended to produce an evidence-based financial assessment rather than rely on assumptions.
The forensic audit is expected to help determine whether the alleged embezzlement was confined to the eight arrested accused or exposed deeper structural weaknesses in the temple’s financial governance and internal control mechanisms.
The financial audit builds upon the expanded second phase of the SIT investigation launched on Thursday, when the probe widened beyond the alleged theft by eight accused to cover the Trust’s entire financial ecosystem since its formation.