Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya have approached a court seeking custody of three accused in the alleged Ram Temple donation theft case, as investigators attempt to trace the financial trail behind the cash recovered during the probe.
According to police, the custody is required to examine the bank accounts of the accused and determine whether the recovered money is linked to the alleged theft. Investigators believe some of the funds may have been used to purchase goods, and say only a detailed examination of bank records can establish the alleged proceeds of crime.
During the investigation, police recovered Rs 14.25 lakh from Lavkush Mishra, Rs 16.82 lakh from Anukalp Mishra, and Rs 18.07 lakh from Karunesh Pandey.
Officials said they will use the bank records to verify the source of the recovered cash and establish whether it originated from the temple donations. They also plan to question Karunesh Pandey over claims made by his father that around Rs 18 lakh had been deposited in his wife’s bank account, with investigators seeking details of how the money reached the account.
Police believe further recoveries could be made during the custody period if the movement of funds can be established through financial records.
The development comes days after the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government at the request of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, submitted its preliminary findings into the alleged irregularities.
The SIT report states that CCTV footage recorded between April 27 and June 5, 2026, captured around 70 instances in which counting staff allegedly concealed bundles of cash and loose currency notes in their clothes, shoes and other personal belongings during the counting process.
Six people, Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey and Ramashankar Mishra, have been identified as having prima facie involvement in the alleged theft, and cases have been registered against them.
The report also points to serious lapses in supervision and security. Although a detailed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) had been signed with the State Bank of India, several key safeguards were allegedly ignored. These included the absence of proper frisking at entry and exit points, lack of biometric attendance, failure to conduct hundi-wise counting, mixing donations from different collection boxes, non-enforcement of dress code rules and restrictions on personal belongings, as well as unauthorised access to donation box keys.
The SIT held Trust officials, including former trustee Dr Anil Mishra and counting in-charge Subhash Srivastava, responsible for supervisory failures.
According to the report, around Rs 78.94 lakh in cash and other items had already been recovered from the accused before the probe formally began. Investigators also found that deposits in the bank accounts of the accused were significantly higher than what their salaries would reasonably support.
Following the preliminary findings, the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Monday accepted the resignations of General Secretary Champat Rai and former trustee Anil Mishra on moral grounds. The Trust said it has begun implementing reforms, while the SIT will continue its investigation and recommend further measures to strengthen transparency and prevent similar incidents in the future.
