The investigation into the handling of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has found 105 instances in which cash was taken out without authorisation; the Supreme Court was informed on Monday 21st September. The Uttar Pradesh government told the court that the investigation by its Special Investigation Team (SIT) is almost complete and the chargesheet will be filed by 25th September.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said the SIT used CCTV footage to identify the people involved and the count of unauthorised cash withdrawals. The investigation also included recovery of cash, forensic checks and examination of audit records.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, directed that the chargesheet be submitted to the jurisdictional additional sessions judge by 25th September. The state has also been asked to place a copy before the Supreme Court.
Why September 25 is important
The deadline comes as the 90 days for completing the investigation ends on 25th September. This period is counted from the first arrest in the case. The state told the court that if the chargesheet is not filed within this period, the accused could become eligible for default bail.
The court also said that further investigation can still be carried out under Section 193 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
The Supreme Court, however, refused a request by senior advocate Ravi Shankar Jandhyala, representing petitioner Ajay Kumar Rai, for a copy of the SIT report. The court said the important findings had already been included in its judicial order and it did not want to move the investigation away from the jurisdictional sessions court.
Two SITs looking into the case
The Uttar Pradesh government formed the first three-member SIT on 13th June after a request from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant heads it. Range inspector general Kiran S and special secretary (finance) Neel Ratan Kumar are its other members.
The SIT submitted an initial report on 23rd June and later gave its final report in August. It pointed to “gross lapses” in the trust’s functioning but cleared two senior former functionaries.
A second SIT was formed by the Supreme Court on 20th July. It is headed by Kiran S and includes DIG (Ayodhya) Somen Barma and SSP (Ayodhya) Gaurav Grover. This team submitted its report to the Supreme Court on 16th September, according to a senior government official.
Eight employees arrested
The case came to light on 7th June after Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan ‘Pawan’ Pandey claimed that ₹5 crore to ₹7.5 crore from temple offerings had been siphoned off. The state formed the SIT on 13th June.
Eight employees involved in handling and counting donations were arrested on 26th June after the interim SIT report said that some offerings were taken out before being deposited into the temple’s designated bank account.
The FIR named Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu, along with unidentified persons.
They face charges including criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy, as well as Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Police recovered ₹79,85,493 from the eight arrested men, including cash found in bathrooms, haystacks and cow dung cakes.
Donations and valuables checked
The investigation also examined the financial transactions and assets of the accused and their close relatives. This included cash deposits, properties, construction work, vehicles, jewellery and spending on events.
The SIT said physical verification of valuable items found no mismatch. This included 803 articles with TCS receipts and 86 articles without receipts. Around 944.411 kg of silver sent for melting to the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) was also verified.
The investigation covered donations mentioned in media reports, including 200 kg and 38.288 kg silver bricks, a silver necklace, a pair of charan paduka and a donated copy of the Ramcharitmanas.
By 14th September, the SIT had examined 173 witnesses under Section 180 of the BNSS. They included trust officials, donation-counting staff, bank officials, security personnel, CCTV operators, chartered accountants and vendors.
The case includes offences relating to criminal breach of trust and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The donation and valuables-handling system was also examined. Receipts for valuables were generated through software, after which the articles were kept in a State Bank of India locker.
Following the controversy, former trust functionaries Champat Rai and Anil Mishra were removed from their posts. A CEO-led administrative system was later introduced, with former military officer Jitendra Mishra appointed as CEO.
