Champat Rai, Anil Mishra get clean chit in Ram Mandir theft in final probe report

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the theft and misappropriation of offerings at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of former Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai and former trustee Anil Mishra, according to sources familiar with the final investigation report submitted to the Uttar Pradesh government.The government has handed over the three-member SIT’s final investigation report to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. According to sources, neither Rai nor Mishra has been named as an accused in the report. Instead, eight people have been identified as accused in connection with the alleged theft of devotees’ offerings.The eight accused are Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu. They were members of the team responsible for counting and transporting donations received at the temple.The development comes nearly two months after allegations of theft and irregularities in the handling and counting of temple donations sparked a major controversy, triggering a political storm that extended well beyond Uttar Pradesh. An FIR was registered against the eight accused in June following the SIT’s preliminary findings and all eight were arrested. Police also recovered a substantial amount of cash allegedly linked to the theft.The allegations had brought the functioning of the temple trust and its donation-handling mechanisms under intense scrutiny. Rai and Mishra subsequently resigned from their respective positions as the controversy escalated and the investigation intensified. The trust later accepted their resignations. As part of the probe, the SIT had questioned both Rai and Mishra over the system governing the collection, counting, custody and deposit of temple donations. The preliminary investigation examined possible administrative and supervisory lapses, including the functioning of personnel involved in the counting process.The final report, however, does not name either Rai or Mishra among the accused in the alleged theft, effectively ruling out their criminal culpability in the case based on the SIT’s findings.The investigation has also been under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. The Uttar Pradesh government constituted the three-member SIT in June after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust sought an impartial inquiry into allegations of misappropriation of temple donations.The Supreme Court later sought a status report from the SIT while hearing petitions seeking an independent investigation into alleged financial irregularities involving temple donations. The court subsequently emphasised that the probe should be fair and impartial and taken to its logical conclusion.- EndsPublished On: Aug 18, 2026 12:33 IST