All 8 accused in Ayodhya Ram temple donation scam arrested; 2 office bearers quit

The Ayodhya police on Friday arrested all eight accused in the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Ram temple. Amid the controversy, Champat Rai, General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, and trustee Anil Mishra have reportedly stepped down from their posts.

The Uttar Pradesh government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on June 13 at the request of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. The SIT submitted its preliminary report to the government on June 23.

The FIR, lodged on the complaint of Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, was based on the recommendations made in the SIT's preliminary report.

"All eight persons named in the FIR have been arrested and are being questioned as part of the investigation," officials said on condition of anonymity.

Ayodhya SSP Gaurav Grover told PTI, "The accused are in our custody. They will be produced before the court following preliminary questioning in the case."

The accused have been identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Chandra Srivastava, and Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu. According to an official, they were involved in counting cash and valuables received as donations at the temple.

Subhash Chandra Srivastava was reportedly in charge of the cash-counting staff, while the other accused were responsible for counting cash and valuables or were associated with the process in different capacities.

Among those named in the FIR is Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu, who is said to be a former driver of Champat Rai. Tinnu denied any role in counting cash and blamed unnamed "jealous people" for the allegations.

Other accused, including Lavkush Mishra and Anukalp Mishra, were also allegedly involved in counting cash and valuables received as donations at the temple.

The case has been registered under Sections 306 (theft by a clerk or servant of property in the possession of the master), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 317 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, among other provisions.

The controversy over the alleged embezzlement of temple donations first surfaced on June 7.

A senior official said the SIT had made "strong and strict" recommendations in its preliminary report submitted to the state government earlier this week and asserted that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was "very serious" about the matter, adding that anyone found guilty would face stringent action.

However, opposition leaders have described the FIR as an "eyewash", alleging that it fails to fix accountability on senior Trust functionaries, including Champat Rai and Anil Mishra. Following the allegations, both Rai and Mishra have stepped down from their posts, the Times of India reported.