Rai, who stepped down as general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on June 27, was questioned as the Special Investigation Team expanded its scrutiny of donation handling, cash custody, counting-room access and bank deposit procedures. Trustee Anil Mishra also resigned after the case triggered pressure on the temple management to explain how offerings from devotees could allegedly be siphoned off over a period of time.
During questioning, Rai reportedly said he acted after receiving complaints about irregularities in the handling of offerings. He maintained that hidden cameras were installed on his instructions and that footage from those cameras helped bring the suspected theft to light. Investigators are examining whether the surveillance system exposed the wrongdoing at an early stage or whether weaknesses in monitoring allowed the alleged embezzlement to continue.
The case has placed the Trust under intense scrutiny because of the scale of public faith attached to the Ayodhya temple and the flow of donations from across the country and overseas. The Trust has said the resignations were received and that a decision on them will be taken at its next meeting. It has also sought to reassure devotees that valuables personally handed over as offerings, including silver bricks and jewellery, are safe and accounted for.
Police registered a First Information Report on June 25 after allegations surfaced that cash and other offerings had been misappropriated. Eight people named in the FIR were arrested the same night and later remanded to judicial custody by a local court in Ayodhya. The SIT has been given a 15-day extension to widen the inquiry and reconstruct the alleged cash trail from donation collection to counting and deposit.
Investigators are focusing on the donation counting centre, the custody of keys, the positioning of CCTV cameras and the possible exploitation of blind spots inside the temple complex. One of the accused, Avinash Shukla, reportedly told police during interrogation that stolen cash was hidden in washrooms before being moved out in smaller quantities. Police are checking the claim through forensic examination, camera footage, staff statements and scrutiny of movement inside the complex.
The accused arrested so far include Avinash Shukla, Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey and Ram Shankar Mishra. Investigators suspect that the alleged theft required familiarity with the counting process and access arrangements. One line of inquiry is whether some accused formed a human shield to block the view of others while cash was removed.
The probe has also moved beyond the temple premises. Police are examining financial records, bank transactions and property documents linked to the accused after claims that part of the stolen money may have been used to acquire land and residential assets. Maintenance workers and staff linked to the counting area are expected to be questioned to determine whether they noticed suspicious activity or cash packets stored in unusual places.
Rai’s defence is significant because he was one of the most visible public faces of the Ram temple project. As general secretary, he frequently represented the Trust in public communication over construction, ceremonies and donation management. His resignation on moral grounds, along with Mishra’s, has not ended questions over administrative responsibility, especially if investigators conclude that the theft was enabled by procedural failures rather than isolated misconduct by lower-level staff.
The Trust has said it is committed to a fair inquiry and has asked devotees not to be guided by rumours or misinformation. It has also said corrective steps will be taken to prevent a repeat of such a situation. The statement is aimed at containing damage to public confidence while the SIT examines whether standard operating procedures were ignored, whether donation boxes and counting-room access were properly supervised, and whether banking protocols were followed.
