All the pieces being caught in the Ram temple offering theft case, all of them are directly connected to Champat Rai’s working style, his decisions and his kindness. Although Champat Rai’s name is not in the FIR, but new secrets are coming to light. The role of many characters in the theft of offerings is under suspicion and all these characters have some connection with Champat Rai.
The matter was not limited to relatives only. The MoU between the bank and the trust was flouted. Rules for opening donation boxes were broken, designated members were absent, there was no dress code for enumerators and the mandatory presence of bank employees was also limited to papers only. Was Champat Rai not even aware of this negligence happening on such a large scale?
At the same time, the second big game is of kindness to ‘Tinnu and Company’. Tinnu’s relatives were given direct entry into the highly sensitive work of counting offerings without any verification. It is claimed that people were recruited on the basis of recommendations only, without any experience or qualification. This was completely like distributing money to one’s own people.
Violation of SOP in offering theft case
There itself, theft of offerings On the questions of Champat Rai, he said that it was my responsibility to prevent any disturbance from happening. Tinnu was associated with him for a long time so he trusted. Tinnu was not expected to be involved in donation theft. Gave opportunity to provide employment to the needy. The decision to provide employment to people was not personal. Other officials of the Trust played a role in it.
But the allegation has been made of direct interference in the work of the bank. According to sources, the bank had given an alert 3 months ago, but it was ignored. The bank had offered to replace the counting staff, but the offer was rejected and the rotation was stopped.
Sources said that standard operating procedures (SOPs) like deploying security guards during counting, frisking people while going in and out of the counting room and storing CCTV footage of the donation counting process for 180 days were violated.
Many flaws in the offering system exposed
He said that in violation of the rules, Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinu Yadav, former driver of Champat Rai, General Secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, was in possession of the keys of several ‘hundis’ (donation boxes).
A source said, “There were multiple ‘hundis’. Hence, the cash found in the hundis whose keys were with Tinu were swindled due to laxity in implementing SOPs. The exact modus operandi is still being worked out.”
The SOPs were finalized in a meeting of trust officials and representatives of State Bank of India. It was implemented in 2025 when trust officials suspected that there was something wrong in the donation counting process. Anil Mishra, an important member of the temple trust, and Govind Mishra of State Bank of India had officially signed the SOPs.
CCTV footage kept only for 45 days
The source said, “The SOPs included a dress code under which donation counting staff had to wear clothes without pockets, deployment of a guard through the Sainik Security Services (SIS) agency, regular frisking and random checking of all visitors to the donation counting room. None of these rules were followed.”
Another major mistake revealed by the SIT was that the CCTV footage of the donation counting process was kept for only 45 days instead of the required 180 days. According to the SIT report, donation counting in-charge and accused Subhash Srivastava was appointed on the recommendation of one of the top three officials of the trust.
The controversy started on June 7 when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged embezzlement of donations in Ram temple, which Rai rejected. Rai had said, “Nothing significant has come to light during the ongoing internal audit.”
FIR registered on June 25
The SIT formed on June 13 on the orders of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to investigate the sensational allegations proved Rai wrong. Sources admitted that considering its outcome, there was going to be a major “overhaul” in the Ram Mandir management set-up.
He told PTI that it took only six days for the SIT to uncover shocking details of alleged mismanagement, embezzlement of donations, major shortcomings and blatant negligence in the management of the temple affairs. These results were part of the preliminary report submitted to the government on June 23.
After submitting the SIT report, an FIR was registered in the case on June 25 and eight accused Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinu Yadav were arrested.
Blessings showered on Tinnu and Company
Police said Tinnu Yadav had hired his relative and co-accused Manish Kumar Yadav to work in the cash-counting unit of the temple. All eight accused have been sent to judicial custody.
According to sources, so far around Rs 80 lakh in cash and some foreign currency has been recovered from six out of eight accused. The source said, “Although the investigation is still going on, you must have seen how fast the action was taken after the Trust was forced to file an FIR, given the major findings of the SIT’s initial investigation.”
“After the controversy broke out and just before the SIT was formed, Rs 2.5 lakh was recovered from a washroom near the donation counting room,” the source said. The source said the revelation was “very embarrassing” as the “responsible” people managing the trust were unaware of the alleged fraud.
Input: Bureau Report, TV9 Bharatvarsh
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