SIT files 60,000-page charge sheet against 8 in Ayodhya Ram temple theft case

The Uttar Pradesh government had assured the Supreme Court on Monday that the SIT will file the charge sheet by September 25

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday filed its charge sheet against eight people in the Ram temple donation theft case before a local court in Ayodhya, detailing findings from an extensive investigation into the pilferage of cash, donations, and the accused’s financial dealings, people familiar with the matter said.

The charge sheet, which along with the annexures and other documents, runs into 60,000 pages, has been described by investigators as one of the most voluminous filed by the state police, and traces the handling of cash collected at the Ram temple, its subsequent movement to banks and the accounting and verification of valuable donations.

The prosecution documents include papers on the accused’s bank transactions, properties, assets, and other financial dealings, apart from the findings of a separate forensic audit ordered as part of the Supreme Court-mandated probe.

The SIT set up following the Supreme Court’s orders is headed by Lucknow range inspector general of police Kiran S. It has found evidence of 105 instances of unauthorised removal or concealment of cash during the counting process inside the temple premises, a senior police officer familiar with the investigation said. There is no evidence that the valuables were stolen during their transportation to the bank.

The eight suspects arrested in the case on June 26 were Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey. Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra are related to each other, and also to a former trust member, Anil Mishra, who was removed along with trust general secretary Champat Rai. Ram Shankar Yadav, who was an aide of Champat Rai, and Manish Yadav are related.

The police also seized ₹79,85,493 from the eight arrested men, recovering money from bathrooms, haystacks and cow dung cakes.

Three-track investigation

A police officer said the SIT’s probe had moved on three fronts.

The first track focused on the handling of cash from donation boxes and counters—from counting and segregation to preparation for bank deposits. Investigators examined CCTV footage, witness statements, donation records and electronic evidence and identified 105 instances in which cash was allegedly removed or concealed without authorisation, the officials said.

The second track examined the movement of counted and segregated cash from the temple to banks. Banking records, deposit documents and cash movements were scrutinised, but investigators found no evidence of pilferage at this stage, people familiar with the investigation said.

The third track focused on valuable donations. The SIT physically verified 803 valuable articles for which receipts had been generated through the temple trust’s software and found no discrepancies after reconciling them with the records, the officer said.

The official said another 86 valuable articles with no receipts were separately identified and physically verified to determine whether the missing receipts indicated any missing or unaccounted-for donations.

The investigation also covered allegations relating to donated silver, including 200 kg of silver bricks and another consignment weighing 38.288 kg, as well as a silver necklace, a pair of Charan Paduka and a copy of the Ramcharitmanas.

The probe also verified around 944.411 kg of silver sent for melting to the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL).

The SIT also scrutinised the bank accounts, deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions, and examined the suspects’ properties, vehicles, jewellery, construction expenditure, and other assets.

The material has been included in the chargesheet to document the financial trail and assess whether the accused’s assets and expenditure were commensurate with their known sources of income, a senior police official said. The officer added that a separate forensic audit supplemented the financial investigation’s findings.

The SIT examined 173 witnesses, including temple trust functionaries, personnel involved in counting donations, bank officials, security personnel, CCTV operators, chartered accountants and vendors, according to sources aware of the investigation.

Investigators also examined CCTV footage, digital records, donation and banking documents, recovery material, property records and forensic evidence to reconstruct the alleged transactions and establish the sequence of events, the sources said.