Ayodhya: Escalating the legal battle over alleged financial irregularities at the Ram Temple, the local police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against eight designated individuals and several unidentified accomplices for the suspected embezzlement of temple donations. The enforcement action comes within hours of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanding criminal prosecution and following the submission of a confidential preliminary report by a state-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The criminal case was formally logged at the Ram Janmabhoomi Kotwali police station based on an official complaint filed by Shri Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. According to senior police officials, the accused have been booked under sections 306 (theft by clerk or servant), 316(5) (criminal breach of trust by a public servant or agent), 317(4) (habitually dealing in stolen property), and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Among those explicitly named in the FIR are high-profile temple personnel, including Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav—a close aide and driver to the Trust’s General Secretary Champat Rai—alongside Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Yadav, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Chandra, and Karunesh Pandey. Preliminary investigation details shared by internal auditing sources indicate that the ongoing multi-layered misappropriation currently estimates a financial leakage of less than ₹1 crore from the central cash donation boxes.
The legal action follows severe pressure from the opposition parties and a conditional consensus from the right-wing leadership. Earlier in the day, VHP International President Alok Kumar addressed the media, explicitly stating that “no one is above Lord Ram” and urging the state government to fast-track the investigation through day-to-day trials to punish the culprits within four to five months. Simultaneously, opposition members, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh, targeted the senior management of the Trust, submitting documents to the SIT alleging wider financial discrepancies in parallel land procurement deals.
The initial technical inquiry faced severe hurdles due to administrative architecture limitations within the temple complex. Investigators discovered that the on-site CCTV surveillance apparatus retains video footage backups for only 45 days, causing older registries to overwrite automatically and complicating efforts to determine the exact origin and duration of the cash leakages.
Following the emergence of systemic flaws, the Ram Mandir Trust has resolved to appoint a professional Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to reinforce transparency and secure administrative oversight over daily offerings. Senior home department representatives in Lucknow confirmed that while the initial preliminary findings have triggered these immediate arrests, the SIT has been granted an additional 10 to 15 days to formalize its exhaustive final report.