The suspect, identified as Mohammad Suhail of Gangoh in Saharanpur district, was picked up from the Davangere region of Karnataka during a joint operation involving the National Investigation Agency and an Anti-Terrorism Squad. Investigators are examining whether he had links to handlers outside the country, suspicious online groups and other suspects held in Karnataka earlier this month.
Officials familiar with the probe said digital material recovered from the suspect’s phone, including alleged weapons-related images, foreign contact numbers and messaging-group activity, is being examined for evidence of planning, recruitment or logistical support. The inquiry is also expected to cover his travel pattern, work record, financial transactions and contacts in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
The arrest has prompted a review of the security grid around Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir has remained under high protection since its consecration ceremony in January 2024. The temple complex draws large crowds daily and is monitored through layered deployment, access controls, surveillance cameras and coordination between state police, central agencies and local intelligence units.
Suhail had been working in Karnataka and was under watch after investigators developed leads from earlier detentions. The questioning of two other suspects in the state is understood to have brought his name into the probe. Authorities have not announced any recovery of explosives, and the case remains at the stage of interrogation and evidence verification.
The alleged plot has surfaced while the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust faces a separate controversy over the handling of temple donations. A Special Investigation Team set up by the Uttar Pradesh government has submitted preliminary findings on alleged irregularities in the management of offerings, cash handling, staffing and surveillance arrangements linked to the temple’s donation system.
An FIR has been registered against eight individuals in the donation case after the trust moved the police following the SIT’s initial findings. Those named include persons linked to cash counting and donation management. The allegations involve suspected theft, cheating, breach of trust and conspiracy related to offerings made by devotees.
The SIT is examining cash-counting procedures, CCTV coverage, recruitment practices, procurement, valuables and related financial processes. Its findings have reportedly raised questions about internal controls at one of the country’s most closely watched religious institutions, where public donations form a significant part of the temple ecosystem.
The donation row has widened beyond criminal liability to governance concerns. Investigators have looked at whether the temple trust had adequate safeguards for counting, recording and securing offerings, particularly as footfall rose sharply after the opening of the temple. The issue has also drawn political reactions, with calls for accountability from opposition leaders and religious figures.
The Supreme Court on Thursday declined an urgent listing of a plea seeking a court-monitored probe into alleged financial irregularities linked to the trust, asking the petitioner to return on June 29. The court’s refusal to immediately hear the plea did not close the matter, but left the next procedural step for the coming week.
The trust was established to oversee construction and management of the Ram Mandir after the 2019 Supreme Court verdict that cleared the way for the temple at the disputed Ayodhya site. Since then, the project has remained both a religious focal point and a politically sensitive institution, attracting donations from across the country and abroad.
The parallel developments have placed Ayodhya at the centre of two sensitive inquiries: one involving an alleged terror conspiracy and the other involving the temple’s internal financial oversight. Officials are treating the two matters separately, with the security investigation focused on possible extremist links and the SIT probe focused on alleged donation mismanagement.
