Ram Temple donation theft case: SIT report finds 105 cases of unauthorized withdrawal of currency

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday noted that the status report submitted by the Uttar Pradesh government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) has identified 105 instances of unauthorized withdrawal of currency caught on CCTV in the Ram Temple donation embezzlement case.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said the investigation was “substantially closed” and the chargesheet in the case would be filed before the court of the Additional Sessions Judge on or before September 25, 2026.

The court noted from the report that the role of each person allegedly involved was assessed.

Mr. Mehta pointed out that the 90-day legal period for the investigation, which began with the first arrest in the case, was coming to an end this week.

“Some of the accused have been identified along with details of the number of times they have committed embezzlement… The status report details the analysis of CCTV footage and other materials to identify the eight accused persons. It also presents a tabular overview of unexplained deposits in their accounts and information about immovable and movable assets where the stolen money was invested,” the Supreme Court order noted.

The status report states the estimated amount embezzled by each accused individual and also states that existing evidence indicates that the suspected embezzlement of currency occurred at the counter during the process of counting and handling the currency.

Receipts generated by TCS software for 803 valuable articles were verified and their relevant records were found to be with Temple Trust. These items are kept in a locker of the State Bank of India which has been physically inspected.

Regarding these articles, no discrepancies were found during verification. However, there were 86 valuable items for which receipts were not issued. These items were separately identified and physically verified.

Records relating to approximately 944.411 kg of white metal (supposed to be silver) were sent to the Trust to Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited for melting. Specific claims regarding valuable donations reported in the media and on social networks have been verified.

These allegations included the alleged donation of 200 kg of silver bricks, 38.288 kg of silver bricks, a Charan Paduka silver necklace and a donation related to Ramcharitmanas. The persons involved were interviewed and the relevant materials were examined. No discrepancies were found during this verification process.

The SIT recorded the statements of 173 witnesses. According to the status report, to the extent relevant to the current investigation, relevant standard operating procedures and records relating to donation counting and handling, security measures, CCTV footage and reconciliation records were examined.

The status report was perused by the Bench in court. However, the audio was muted and the screen blacked out as the order was read, requiring media personnel to enter the courtroom to grab snippets of the court’s oral dictation.

When senior advocate Ravi Shankar Jandhyala, appearing for petitioner Ajay Kumar Rai, sought a copy of the status report, the Bench said the contents of the documents were summarized and included in the writ itself.

“The state requires transparency,” Mr. Jandhyala said.

After reading the status report, the Bench said that the SIT investigation was heavily based on CCTV footage for identification of accused persons, recovery, forensic examination and audits.

After the court observed that the primary offenses include criminal breach of trust and offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act, further investigation will continue under 193 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

Noting that while it did not want to interfere with the jurisdiction of the Sessions Court, the Bench asked the State Government to also file a copy of the charge sheet in the High Court.

The next meeting will be on November 2.

A three-member SIT headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant was constituted by the state government on June 13 on the request of the Trust before the Supreme Court intervened in the matter. The other members are Inspector General of Range Kiran S. and Special Secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan Kumar.

The FIR named eight persons — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu — and other unidentified persons as accused.

Published – 21 Sep 2026 17:39 IST