Rai said he was confined at Hotel Padam Shri Palace after reaching Ayodhya and accused the state government of preventing elected representatives and party leaders from offering prayers. The Congress described the action as house arrest and said the delegation had informed the local administration about its plan to visit the temple. Rai said the party would not leave Ayodhya without darshan and framed the police action as an attempt to silence questions over donation management.
The proposed delegation included MPs Kishori Lal Sharma, Rakesh Rathor, Ujjwal Raman Singh and Tanuj Punia, along with former MP S P Gautam, former MLC Deepak Singh, former MLA Virendra Chaudhary and former MLA Mita Gautam. The party said its leaders wanted to pray at the temple and seek accountability after allegations surfaced that money and valuables offered by devotees had been misappropriated.
The confrontation came a day after a local court sent eight accused persons to 14 days’ judicial custody in the donation theft case. The FIR names Avinash Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Yadav, also known as Tinnu, Rama Shankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava. Srivastava was linked to the cash counting centre, while several others were associated with the counting and handling of offerings.
Police have recovered about ₹79.85 lakh from seven accused persons as part of the investigation. The case centres on allegations that cash and valuables donated at the temple were manipulated during counting and deposit procedures. Investigators are examining whether bundles of currency were tampered with before vouchers were prepared and whether the oversight chain at the pilgrim facilitation centre failed to detect repeated irregularities.
The Uttar Pradesh government formed a Special Investigation Team on June 13 after the temple trust sought an inquiry into complaints over donation handling. The team includes Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector General Kiran S and Finance Department Special Secretary Neel Ratan. Its preliminary report was submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath before the FIR was registered at the Kotwali Ramjanmabhoomi police station.
The probe has widened beyond those directly involved in cash counting. Police have questioned Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, about how donations were received, counted and deposited. Rai and trustee Anil Mishra have been reported to have stepped down from their posts on moral grounds, though the trust and associated organisations have not offered a uniform public account of the resignations.
Bank-linked processes are also under scrutiny, as several accused were associated with an outsourced cash management agency engaged in counting offerings. Investigators are looking at security arrangements, standard operating procedures, CCTV records, deposit slips and the role of officials responsible for supervising the movement of donation money from temple counters to banking channels. The SIT has flagged lapses in internal controls, raising questions about how a high-profile religious institution handled large volumes of cash.
The controversy has quickly moved from a criminal investigation into a wider political dispute. Congress leaders have accused the ruling party and bodies linked to the temple movement of shielding powerful figures while allowing lower-level staff to take the blame. The party has also alleged that warnings over the donation counting system were ignored and that action came only after public pressure mounted.
The BJP has rejected the opposition’s attack as politically motivated. Uttar Pradesh minister Dayashankar Singh accused opposition leaders of using the temple issue for political mileage and questioned their commitment to Lord Ram. Other BJP leaders have argued that the government acted by setting up an SIT and allowing the criminal process to proceed against those named in the FIR.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant an urgent hearing to petitions seeking a CBI-led probe into the alleged financial irregularities. A vacation bench said the matter would be listed after the court resumes regular functioning. Petitioners had argued that electronic evidence such as CCTV and digital video records could be tampered with, but the court did not accept the plea for immediate listing.
