Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra on Friday resigned from their posts on “moral grounds” following the alleged embezzlement of donations made to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, ANI reported.

The trust manages the temple.

The development came a day after a first information report was registered against eight persons in the case. The FIR was filed based on a complaint by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

All eight accused named in the FIR – Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava – have been arrested.

They were booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to theft by a clerk or servant, criminal breach of trust, stolen property and criminal conspiracy.

The FIR stated that the accused were involved in counting the cash and valuables donated by devotees at the temple, The Hindu reported. The accused had allegedly misappropriated donations collected through the donation boxes installed on the temple premises, the newspaper reported.

On Tuesday, the Special Investigation Team probing the alleged irregularities at the Ram temple submitted its preliminary report to the Uttar Pradesh government. The contents of the report have not been made public.

However, unidentified persons aware of its contents told The Indian Express that the report highlights alleged lapses, inadequate supervision and negligence in the handling, maintenance and counting of donated cash and valuables.

The government said that the investigating team would continue its work and submit a final report after 15 days.

The team was set up by the state government on June 14 following a request from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Opposition leaders and a whistleblower have claimed that cash and jewellery offerings made by devotees had been embezzled by temple staffers under the trust’s watch.

The Ram temple in Ayodhya was built on the site of the Babri Masjid, which was demolished by Hindutva extremists on December 6, 1992, because they believed that it stood on the spot where the Hindu deity Ram was born.

In 2019, the Supreme Court held that the demolition of the Babri mosque was illegal, but handed over the land to a trust for a Ram temple to be constructed. At the same time, it directed that a five-acre plot in Ayodhya be allotted to Muslims for a mosque to be built.

The Ram temple was inaugurated in a ceremony led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2024.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: