Ayodhya, Ram Mandir: India’s historic temple overhauls board after alleged theft of offerings
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust – the private body that manages the shrine – held its first meeting on Monday after allegations of donation theft surfaced last month.
The trust had previously denied any wrongdoing. But the state government set up a special tri-investigation team (SIT) to investigate the allegations.
After an interim report from the SIT, the Ayodhya police registered a case of money laundering, naming eight people. They were arrested and are being interrogated, said the police.
After Monday’s meeting, treasurer Govind Dev Giri told a press conference that Rai and another official, Anil Mishra, had resigned after the police filed a complaint on June 25.
He named retired forest officer Krishna Mohan as interim general secretary. Mohan is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – the umbrella organization of Hindu nationalist parties, including Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Giri also said that a new position of CEO has been created and said that there is a team of three members who will recommend its names.
Giving details of donations received by the temple, Giri said the trust – which collects, sorts and tallies donations – had received 5.82bn rupees ($61m; £45.63m) from devotees up to 31 March 2026. It spent 3.19bn rupees ($33.48m, a collection of shrup added to £25m).
In his opening remarks, Mohan said his “priority was to identify and close any loophole so that such incidents do not happen again”. These allegations, he added, have affected the reputation of the trust and created distrust in the community.
An alleged theft at one of India’s most revered and politically charged temples has been made by a former accounts manager who says he was fired after raising concerns about alleged wrongdoing inside.
His statement sparked a major political controversy, with opposition parties questioning the handling of funds, jewellery, gold and silver donated by devotees.
Appeals were filed in the state superior court and the Supreme Court seeking a court-supervised investigation by the state police.
It is not clear how much money was stolen, but a former member of the city legislature suspected more than 70m rupees., outside ($739,550; £560,420) lost.
Champat Rai has earlier denied claims that donations or donations were mishandled.
In a press conference on Monday, Giri did not say how much money or valuables were stolen, but he called for strict action against those involved and said that the trust’s biggest concern is the damage caused to the opinions of devotees and the credibility of the institution, the Indian Express., outside report.
Whether the theft was small or large comes later. The atmosphere that has been created is the one that has harmed us all,” he said.
The construction of the temple was “a moment of great joy” and “the incident of theft from the donation boxes during the counting is very painful and shameful for all of us,” he added.
Giri also said that “the temple authorities did not steal,” ANI reported.
“This betrayal was done by the people Champat Rai, whom we consider a noble and great soul, whom we trusted and stayed close to for many years. It was those people who betrayed the trust,” he added.
Giri said the trust will meet next on July 22 and he expects the police will have submitted their final report by then.
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