SIT finds staff hiding cash inside clothes in Ram Mandir through CCTV footage

07 Jul 2026, 05:14 by Vaishnavi Verma · KalingaTV

Ayodhya: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing alleged irregularities in donations at the Ram Temple has found repeated thefts inside the temple’s donation counting room, blaming major security lapses and poor supervision in its preliminary report.

The report, presented to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Monday, recommends criminal cases against six cash-counting staff members. All six have been arrested. It also seeks an investigation into the role of senior officials responsible for enforcing security measures.

According to reports, the CCTV footage captured around 70 instances in which staffs were allegedly seen hiding cash inside their clothes, pockets or shoes. The incident and the findings were gathered from the CCTV recording from April 27 to June 5 of time period.

Oldert CCTV footages were unavailable due to which it is impossible to know whether the theft were ongoing before April 27 or not. The footages were deleted automatically due to storage issues.

The six accused persons have been identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey and Ramashankar Mishra.

The SIT also said the amount recovered y the temple trust was around Rs 2.79 crore which included foreign currency, jewellery and other valuables. Some amount was also recovered from washroom situated near the counting room, it was Rs 2.25 lakh.

The probe found the accused, who earns ₹20,000 a month, had cash deposits and transactions far exceeding their declared income.

The SIT says that there was procedural lapses such as unchecked staff, personal items in the counting room, poor CCTV coverage, faulty biometric attendance, and bad record-keeping. These were the said reasons for repeated thefts in the donation of the temple.

The report raised questions over the role of senior trust officials, including former trustee Anil Mishra, who has resigned, and counting room in-charge Subhash Srivastava, for failing to enforce security rules. It also recommended investigating other supervisory staff for possible negligence and conspiracy.

The SIT, however, found no evidence to support social media claims about missing silver bricks or other donated valuables. It said these items were properly recorded and accounted for.

The SIT will submit its final report by July 15 after examining administrative responsibility, management of valuable donations and long-term reforms.

Further investigation into this matter is underway.

SIT finds staff hiding cash inside clothes in Ram Mandir through CCTV footage

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