Ram Mandir Donation Row: Champat Rai, Anil Mishra Resign, reports unconfirmed , SIT Arrests 8, Probe On
Ayodhya, 26 June 2026.
Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and Trust member Anil Mishra have stepped down “on moral grounds” amid an ongoing probe into alleged misappropriation of temple donations.
On the recommendation of a three-member Special Investigation Team constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government on 14 June, an FIR was registered at Ram Janmabhoomi police station on Thursday. Eight persons named in the FIR were arrested the same day.
The arrested are: Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu. Police said they were involved in counting and handling cash and valuables received in donation boxes at the temple.
Charges include theft by a clerk/servant, criminal breach of trust, possession of stolen property and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. All eight have been remanded to judicial custody. The SIT’s preliminary report flagged lapses in donation handling. CM Yogi Adityanath has said “nobody will be spared” and that the government will have “zero tolerance” towards anyone exploiting devotees’ faith.
The case was triggered after former SP MLA Pawan Pandey alleged that ₹7-7.5 crore in donations had been siphoned off.
Thereafter the former Uttar Pradesh CM and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held press briefings, accusing the BJP of “stealing God’s money” and linking the row to land and donation irregularities. AAP’s Sanjay Singh also submitted complaints to police earlier in June alleging theft of gold/silver and land deals.
Reports have also cited “valuables worth hundreds of crores” being misappropriated by staff in connivance with bank officials. Police have not publicly confirmed recovery of “₹80 lakh and ornaments worth several crores” as of now, and the SIT has said investigations are continuing.
Both Champat Rai and Anil Mishra resigned after the FIR and arrests. The Trust has said Champat Rai’s name does not figure in the FIR, and that the SIT’s preliminary findings did not recommend criminal proceedings against him so far, though the probe is ongoing.
The eight arrested remain in judicial custody while the SIT continues to examine donation records, CCTV footage and bank transactions.
The political analysts are predicting that the way massive corruption in misappropriation of several crores of rupees in the Ram Temple trust including the irregularities committed in the purchase of land for Ram Temple construction earlier escalating the land cost several times minting a huge profit illegally, this will definitely be a Waterloo for the saffron party in the future at the centre as well as in Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP has hyped the Ram Temple issue since 2012 and formed their government polarizing the votes and people’s sentiments playing the Hindutva card majorly but the way massive corruption in the misappropriation of donation money, the land deals and on other fronts in the Ram of Lord Rama including ornaments worth several crores , the entire opposition and the people are against the saffron party which stands fully exposed today. The elections in few states are just few months ahead and Uttarakhand is one of them. The elections results of these state of held transparently will prove finally whether the Ram Temple corruption have impacted these elections by voting against BJP or not. If BJP loses in these elections it will definitely be the commencement of the dangerous trend of downfall of BJP in 2029. But if all goes well than not only will BJP win 2029 but will establish its complete political hegemony for many more years.
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