Ram Mandir Donation Theft: Eight Arrested, ₹7 Crore Under Probe

The FIR, lodged this evening by the Shri Ram Janbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust following an earlier complaint, alleges that approximately Rs 7 to 7.5 crore are missing. 

Cash Recovered from Two Arrested Accused

The two arrested are Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra from whom the allegedly stolen money was recovered. The six remaining suspects-Avinash Shukla, Ramshankar Mishra, Ramashankar Yadav, Manish Yadav, Subhash Chandra Srivastava and Karunesh Pandey-have been taken in for further interrogation.

BNS Charges Invoked in Ram Mandir Case

The charges include theft by clerk or servant (Sec 306 BNS), criminal breach of trust (Sec 316 BNS), dishonestly receiving stolen property (Sec 317 BNS) and criminal conspiracy (Sec 61 BNS), among others. 

This case follows previous reports of misuse of donated funds that prompted the formation of the Special Investigation Team. These reports were first brought to light by the Samajwadi Party, with party leader Akhilesh Yadav highlighting the alleged disappearance of donations and calling for a judicial inquiry.

PIL Raises Concerns Over Fund Management

The matter has taken a legal turn with an advocate filing a Public Interest Litigation, raising concerns about fund management and following up on representations to the Trust, leading to the formation of the SIT. The complaint suggests that the accused embezzled funds through criminal conspiracy by diverting money from donation boxes within the temple. 

This FIR comes two days after the SIT’s preliminary findings were submitted to the state government, acting on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s directive. The huge amount of public donations collected by the Ram Mandir from devotees nationwide and globally makes allegations of misappropriation highly significant, and the current investigation seeks to uncover the extent of the theft and bring those responsible to justice.