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The trust that oversees the Ram Temple accepted the resignation of its general secretary Champat Rai and replaced him with Krishna Mohan, a retired forest officer and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member, according to statements from trust treasurer Govind Dev Giri following a meeting on July 6. Giri told a press conference that Anil Mishra had also stepped down after Ayodhya police registered a case of alleged embezzlement on June 25. The trust created a new chief executive post and established a three-member panel to suggest suitable candidates for the role. Giri emphasised that the primary concern remained the damage to the sentiments of devotees and the temple’s credibility.
Uttar Pradesh police have arrested eight men named in the first information report, including Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Manish Yadav, Ramshankar Yadav, Subhash Chandra Srivastava and Karunesh Pandey, The Hindu reported. The accused face charges of theft, criminal breach of trust, cheating and conspiracy, with authorities recovering approximately 7.985 million rupees from them. A Special Investigation Team constituted by the state government earlier identified around 150 suspects in the case and recovered about 20 million rupees based on leads from primary accused, according to the New Indian Express. The probe was triggered by complaints that included claims of more than 70 million rupees missing from donation collections.
Former accounts supervisor Mahipal Singh detailed in an interview how workers systematically undervalued bundles of cash during the sorting process between 2021 and 2022, allowing surplus funds to be diverted, as cited by Al Jazeera and other outlets. Trust officials maintained that the trustees had not been involved in any wrongdoing and attributed the theft to a betrayal by individuals trusted by the former leadership. “This betrayal was perpetrated by people whom Champat Rai, whom we consider a truly noble and great soul, trusted and kept close for so many years,” Giri said. “The incident of theft from the donation boxes during counting is deeply painful and shameful for all of us,” he added.
Opposition parties have seized on the scandal to question the management of the high-profile temple project. Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge have alleged that thousands of crores of rupees were misused and called for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation, The Hindu reported. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav described the reports of missing donations as sensitive news for devotees worldwide and urged judicial intervention. Nripendra Misra, who chaired the temple’s construction committee, advocated for a complete overhaul of the management with the appointment of a professional full-time CEO.
The Ram Temple was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2024 on a site where Hindu mobs demolished a 16th century mosque in 1992, triggering riots that killed nearly 2,000 people across the country. The shrine, believed by many Hindus to mark the birthplace of Lord Ram, draws approximately 50 million visitors annually and has collected billions in donations since opening. Figures released by the trust place total receipts at 5.82 billion rupees through March 2026, with 3.19 billion rupees allocated to maintenance and operations. The controversy has prompted calls for systemic changes in how temple donations are handled and accounted for across Uttar Pradesh.
The trust plans to convene again on July 22 to review further developments once police submit their final report, Giri indicated. State officials have said the investigation continues with a focus on improving financial controls and donation processing procedures. Additional scrutiny has extended to the handling of valuable offerings such as silver, which the trust said was sent for purity testing.
