Rs 79.80 lakh seized in Ram Temple donation theft case

3 min readLucknowUpdated: Jun 26, 2026 08:10 PM IST

Ram Mandir donations alleged embezzlement case, following the court hearing, the eight accused are being taken away from the special court, in Ayodhya on Friday. (ANI Video Grab)

The Ayodhya Police has recovered Rs 79.80 lakh in connection with the Ram temple donation theft and misappropriation case. This is part of the alleged stolen money seized from seven of the eight arrested accused in varying sums, said prosecution officer A K Verma.

On Friday, the police produced all eight men before the remand magistrate. They were sent to three days’ judicial custody and will be produced again on Monday before the Prevention of Corruption (PAC) Act court for further proceedings, Verma told the media.

Verma said the Rs 79.80 lakh was recovered from the possession of Avinash Shukla, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav.

No cash or valuables was recovered from the 8th accused, Subhash Srivastav.

The prosecution officer said five-six serving bank employees are under scanner for alleged embezzlement of funds and being part of the crime with those arrested. Their role and involvement are being investigated, Verma said.

According to a police officer, the arrested men were employed by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and assigned the job of counting or upkeep of donations in the form of cash and valuables.

The police probe will be headed by Circle Officer (CO), Ayodhya, Ashutosh Tiwari, who will probe the larger spectrum of the alleged theft and embezzlement and carry out recovery of cash and valuables, if any come to light, the officer added.

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The officer said the police team may seek help from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was formed to probe the allegations. The police team will request the SIT for documents, including digital records, to assess the extent of the alleged theft and embezzlement.

Officers said bank staff involved in carrying cash and valuables to the bank branch between 2022 and until the SIT began the probe will also be questioned afresh by the police team; they were questioned by the SIT as well.

Amid the row, Champat Rai, general secretary of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, is facing pressure to step down from his post following the allegations, with sources saying there is consensus to ensure an impartial probe into the matter

On Thursday, the FIR was lodged at Kotwali Ramjanmabhoomi police station on a complaint by Krishna Mohan, a member of the Trust. This came two days after the SIT submitted its preliminary findings to the Uttar Pradesh government.

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Sources in Ayodhya had said there were allegations that some among the counting staff had been slipping extra notes into currency bundles of 100 each and these were later shared.