New Delhi, June 26, 2026: In a major development that has sent shockwaves through the region, the Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested eight individuals in connection with the alleged siphoning and theft of cash donations at the iconic Ram Temple. The late-night sweep in Ayodhya follows the registration of a formal First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which oversees the historic temple’s management.
The enforcement action comes on the heels of a damning preliminary inquiry submitted by a state-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). Investigators spent days inside the temple’s Pilgrim Facility Centre (PFC), unearthing systematic vulnerabilities, compromised access logs, and a deeply coordinated inside job aimed at pocketing the offerings of millions of devotees.
Inside the Counting Room: How the Cash Disappeared
The controversy, which initially sparked intense local speculation early in June 2026, centers around the precise mechanics of how physical currency and valuables were counted and processed. According to police sources, the siphoning occurred primarily within the high-security counting rooms located inside the temple premises.
Temple insiders and investigators revealed that the operation relied heavily on the specific roles held by the key accused, who effectively manipulated the counting process.
- The Trust Insider: Ramashankar Yadav, popularly known as “Tinnu Yadav,” is a primary accused in the case. He served as a trusted, close personal aide to the temple Trust’s General Secretary, Champat Rai. Yadav held a significant supervisory and administrative presence in the operations, giving him direct, authoritative oversight over the move and flow of physical cash.
- The Ex-Bank Staff: Subhash Srivastava, a retired bank employee, was specifically hired by the trust to handle the complex Logistics of currency management. Leveraging his professional banking background, Srivastava was placed in charge of the donation counting shifts.
- The “Bundle” Modification: Sources close to the ongoing interrogation revealed that the accused used a remarkably simple yet effective trick. While processing immense volumes of cash, certain members of the counting staff would routinely slip extra currency notes into standardized rubber-banded bundles of 100 notes. By skewing the internal tally sheets before logging the totals into the ledger, these surplus amounts were quietly pocketed, pooled together, and later split among the co-conspirators.
Because those trusted with the keys, oversight, and professional counting standards were all colluding, the routine internal and external audits conducted by the temple trust failed to pick up the financial discrepancies for months.
The Legal Crackdown and the SIT Findings
The scale of the discrepancies prompted the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to formally request intervention from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government. On June 13, 2026, a high-level, three-member SIT was constituted, led by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, alongside Lucknow Range Inspector General Kiran S. and Special Secretary of Finance Neelratan Kumar.
The SIT spent five days meticulously combing through the temple’s infrastructure, analyzing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, examining collection box seals, auditing access control systems, and reviewing storage facilities. Their initial findings pointed to a blatant, prima facie breach of trust and systematic theft.
Following the SIT’s formal recommendations, Trust member and retired Indian Forest Service officer Krishna Mohan filed the official police complaint.
The eight arrested individuals have been identified as Ramashankar Yadav (Tinnu), Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra, and the retired banker Subhash Srivastava.
Political Firestorm Erupts Over Sacred Funds
Given the immense religious and historical cultural significance of the Ram Temple, the arrests have naturally triggered an aggressive political confrontation across Uttar Pradesh.
Echoing these concerns, state leaders from the Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit out at the ruling government, arguing that the embezzlement of funds given out of deep faith by ordinary citizens has severely hurt public sentiments.
In sharp response, representatives of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavily defended the promptness of the investigation. They clarified that the FIR was initiated by the temple trust itself the moment discrepancies were noticed, proving that transparency is paramount. Government officials further emphasized that the probe is entirely evidence-driven and being handled with absolute rigor, completely detached from political motives.
Next Steps in the Investigation
The local magistrate court is preparing to receive the eight accused for their formal remand hearings. Senior police officials indicate that the current wave of arrests is merely the first phase of an expanding operation.
Investigators are currently mapping out the exact financial trail to ascertain how much total cash was stolen and whether any of the siphoned money was channeled into real estate investments or external bank accounts. Police have also stated that they are keeping a close watch on a number of unidentified individuals who frequently visited the Pilgrim Facility Centre during the counting shifts, hinting that the network behind the temple donation row could widen significantly in the coming days.