SC disposes of Ram Temple embezzlement petitions after Uttar Pradesh says charge sheet filed

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Updated - November 02, 2026 03:00 pm IST - NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday (November 2, 2026) closed multiple pleas seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Ram Temple donations’ embezzlement case after the State of Uttar Pradesh informed it that a charge sheet has already been filed by its Special Investigation Team (SIT).

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India bowed out of any further judicial scrutiny even as Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta submitted that the misappropriations had occurred during the counting of the money, which was allegedly invested in property by the accused persons.

In its order, the apex court allowed petitioners, which include Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust, Ajay Kumar Rai, Narendra Kumar Goswami and Sudhakar Singh, among others, to assist the trial court in further proceedings.

The Bench reasoned that they could assist in the capacity of “victims of crime” as the case involved issues of public interest.

“Courts have allowed victims of crimes to assist, similarly you also assist the court… If there is an element of public interest involved, law enables victims to assist the court,” Chief Justice Kant told the petitioners.

Besides a common plea for a CBI probe, the petitioners had variously sought the immediate preservation of evidence, records, CCTV footage, and digital logs relating to donations and offerings at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir.

They had also sought an independent forensic audit of donations, offerings, and valuable items received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust from its inception till date.

The petitioners wanted the apex court to constitute or direct constitution of an expert committee comprising representatives of the Union and State authorities, audit/accounting experts, digital-payment/cyber-forensic experts and temple-administration experts to frame a ‘National Minimum Temple Donation Transparency Framework’ for public temples and religious endowments of national importance and temples receiving substantial annual donations, including but not limited to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, Ayodhya and Shri Krishna Janmasthan at Mathura.

In the previous hearing, the Uttar Pradesh government’s SIT report had said 105 instances of unauthorised currency removal were captured on CCTV in the temple donations’ misappropriation case. Mr. Mehta, on November 2, said initial investigations could only grab 48 hours of CCTV footage. However, the probe team had traced back to find out how and where the purloined money was used.

The status report had noted the estimated amount misappropriated by each accused individual.

It had said that receipts generated by the TCS software for 803 valuable articles were verified, and their relevant records were found to be with the Temple Trust. These articles were stored in a State Bank of India locker, which was physically checked.

In so far as these articles were concerned, no discrepancies were found during the verification. However, there were 86 valuable articles in respect of which receipts have not been issued. These articles had been separately identified and physically verified.

The records relating to approximately 944.411 kg of white metal (supposed to be silver) were sent by the Trust to Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited for melting. Particular allegations regarding valuable donations reported in the media and on social media were verified.

The alleged donation included 200 kg of silver bricks, 38.288 kg of silver bricks, a silver necklace, Charan Paduka, and a donation related to the Ramcharitmanas. The involved individuals had been interviewed, and pertinent materials were examined by them. No discrepancies were identified during this verification process.

The statements of 173 witnesses were recorded by the SIT. According to the status report, relevant Standard Operating Procedures and records relating to the counting and handling of donations, security arrangements, CCTV recordings and reconciliation records had been examined to the extent relevant to the present investigation.

The FIR in the case had named eight people — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu — and other unidentified individuals as accused.

Published - November 02, 2026 01:59 pm IST

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