Ayodhya Ram Temple donation row: Trust confirms resignation of General Secretary Champat Rai

AYODHYA: In a major shakeup at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, temple authorities have officially confirmed the resignations of Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and fellow trust member Anil Mishra. The high-profile exits come amid an intensifying investigation into the alleged misappropriation and siphoning of temple donation funds.

According to an official press release issued by the Ayodhya Temple Trust, the recent developments have cast a heavy shadow over the institution. "The incidents that have unfolded at the temple are deeply distressing. We are taking stringent measures to ensure that such breaches of trust never occur again in the future," the statement read.

The resignations were tendered immediately after a Special Investigation Team (SIT), appointed by the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted its preliminary findings. The report flagged severe administrative and financial lapses in the management and accounting of daily offerings and large-scale donations from devotees. Initial audits by the probe team indicate that approximately ₹7.5 crore is currently missing from the temple’s official bank accounts.

The police crack down has so far led to the arrest of eight temple employees who were directly involved in the daily operations of the shrine. The arrested individuals—identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ram Shankar Yadav—have been booked under stringent provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. An Ayodhya special court has already remanded all eight accused to judicial custody.

Following hours of intense questioning by investigators, the accused reportedly dropped crucial leads regarding the operational hierarchy of the scam. Sources indicate that the suspects provided detailed information linking the top brass—including Champat Rai, Anil Mishra, and Gopal Rai (who was overseeing the temple's construction)—to the ongoing financial irregularities.

The SIT has already recovered over ₹79 lakh in cash during targeted raids, unearthing significant sums of money from the residences of Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, and Avinash Shukla.

Investigators revealed that the majority of those arrested were tasked with counting the daily cash inflows. Among them, Ram Shankar Yadav held the crucial responsibility of keeping the keys to the temple's donation boxes. A subsequent raid at his residence led to the seizure of a massive cache of unaccounted gold jewellery.

The scale of the fraud has shocked authorities, given the unprecedented volume of wealth flowing into the treasury. In the 2024–25 financial year alone, the trust received a staggering ₹327 crore in monetary donations. This was in addition to physical offerings worth crores of rupees—including substantial quantities of gold, diamonds, and silver ornaments—all of which are now under the scanner of the financial audit team.