Ayodhya Ram Mandir scam: SIT files 7000-page charge-sheet; Champat Rai, Anil Mishra not named

Lucknow: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the alleged embezzlement of offerings at the Ayodhya Ram Temple submitted a 7,000-page charge sheet to the Anti-Corruption Court in Faizabad on Wednesday. The submission was met with intense protests by local lawyers, who briefly halted court proceedings to demand that their objections be heard before the court took official cognisance of the document.

The lawyers were protesting the non-inclusion of former Ram Temple Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and former trustee Anil Mishra, against whom they had previously sought a formal police complaint. Work at the court resumed only after the legal fraternity met with the district judge.

The investigating officer arrived at the court carrying large boxes loaded with evidence, including forensic audit reports, financial documentation, bank statements and cash deposit slips.

105 instances of theft uncovered

The exhaustive charge-sheet lists 173 witness statements and details 105 distinct instances where funds were unlawfully diverted or hidden from the money-counting room, backed by CCTV footage. Investigators have also detailed the recovery of ₹79.85 lakh in cash, alongside vehicles and gold ornaments.

The charges target eight former trust employees engaged in cash counting – Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Luvkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav (alias Tinnu). All eight suspects, who were arrested in June, remain in judicial custody and face charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

While the state-constituted SIT completed its final report within the mandatory 90-day window and cleared top trust officials of wrongdoing, a separate probe ordered by the Supreme Court is currently underway into the broader financial irregularities.