The Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) initial probe into the supposed theft of money offering at the Ram temple has actually put senior Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust office-bearer Dr Anil Mishra under the scanner, holding him accountable for supervisory failures that supposedly enabled duplicated theft of fans’ money contributions regardless of his understanding that obligatory security checks were not being imposed.
< source media ="(min-width:768px)" alt ="Preliminary probe alleges the trust office-bearer did not issue effective directions despite being aware that mandatory frisking had stopped. (For representation)" > < img src ="https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2026/07/07/400x225/Preliminary-probe-alleges-the-trust-office-bearer-_1783452198829.jpg"alt ="Preliminary probe alleges the trust office-bearer did not issue effective directions despite being aware that mandatory frisking had stopped. (For representation)"title ="Preliminary probe alleges the trust office-bearer did not issue effective directions despite being aware that mandatory frisking had stopped. (For representation)"width ="360"height ="202"loading ="eager">The three-member SIT, in its report sent to the Uttar Pradesh federal government on June 23, associated supervisory responsibility to Dr Mishra, stating his failure to guarantee enforcement of the Standard Operating Procedure( SOP)produced conditions that supposedly allowed duplicated theft and criminal misappropriation inside the temple’s donation-counting space.
Dr Mishra’s resignation from the trust was accepted at its conference kept in Ayodhya on Monday, days after the SIT sent its report.
The report formed the basis for registration of an FIR, following which 8 individuals have actually been detained. While 6 counting workers have actually been recognized as straight associated with the supposed theft of money contributions, the SIT individually analyzed the function of senior trust functionaries accountable for monitoring the whole counting procedure.
According to the report, Dr Mishra was among the trust agents turned over with managing monetary management and donation-counting operations. He collectively prepared and signed the in-depth cash-handling SOP with the then State Bank of India (SBI), Ayodhya branch supervisor Govind Mishra after the trust and the bank carried out an MoU governing management of temple contributions.
The SOP, settled on February 6, 2025, recommended a sophisticated security architecture to avoid theft. Amongst its most important safeguards was obligatory frisking of everyone going into and leaving the counting space. The procedure likewise mandated biometric participation, pocketless uniforms, restriction on bring individual valuables, denomination-wise documents, contribution box-wise counting, maker counting, CCTV tracking and everyday reporting.
According to the SIT, obligation for guaranteeing openness and stability of the counting procedure rested with the trust. The examination states that regardless of being among the primary designers of the SOP, Dr Mishra stopped working to make sure the safeguards were carried out on the ground. The report determines the failure to impose frisking as one of the gravest lapses.
According to the SIT, Dr Mishra had actually gotten info through internal channels that necessary frisking of counting workers while going into and leaving the counting space was not being performed. In spite of knowing the offense, detectives state he did not release any reliable composed instructions to make sure compliance with the obligatory security procedure.
The SIT even more declares that no significant restorative intervention followed despite the fact that other essential safeguards– consisting of biometric participation, required uniforms, constraints on individual valuables inside the counting space, denomination-wise accounting and everyday reporting– were likewise presumably not being imposed.
Detectives likewise questioned a considerable modification presented in the February 6, 2025 SOP.
The report keeps in mind that while the earlier system needed mandatory frisking of every specific going into or leaving the counting space, the modified SOP watered down the arrangement by changing obligatory consult “regular/random” frisking. The SIT held Dr Mishra accountable for this relaxation, including that even the watered down arrangement was not executed in practice.
“It was his obligation to guarantee constant tracking of the SOP released under his guidance,” the report states in compound, concluding that the lack of continual guidance and restorative action enabled duplicated offenses of recommended safeguards.
The SIT even more observes that as the trust’s agent in preparing the SOP with SBI, Dr Mishra was anticipated to constantly confirm whether every authorized secure was being followed. Rather, it declares that supervisory oversight stayed inadequate in spite of understanding of duplicated procedural offenses.
The report likewise scrutinises visits produced the delicate cash-counting workout.
According to the SIT, Subhash Srivastava was selected counting in-charge on Dr Mishra’s suggestion. Detectives state Srivastava was accountable for implementing frisking, keeping discipline and making sure compliance with all security procedures inside the counting space. The SIT recognizes his failure to make sure necessary frisking as the most severe functional lapse in spite of duplicated thefts presumably taking location.
The examination even more declares that Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu helped with the visit of his relative Manish Kumar Yadav as a counting employee through SBI staff member Ratnesh Chaturvedi. CCTV video footage supposedly recorded Manish hiding or eliminating contribution money from May 11, 2026, onwards.
According to the SIT, all 6 individuals recognized as prima facie associated with apparently taking money were released through SBI’s legal company, Sainik Security Services, on the suggestions of Trust office-bearers, a practice the detectives state ran contrary to the spirit of the SOP.
The report likewise specifies that internal audit reports from 2022-23 to 2025-26 had actually consistently flagged weak points in contribution management, consisting of bad documents, insufficient CCTV protection throughout transfer of contributions, failure to concern invoices for contributed short articles and insufficient conservation of CCTV video footage. Regardless of duplicated audit observations, the shortages supposedly stayed unaddressed.
Private investigators state CCTV video taken a look at throughout the probe caught almost 70 circumstances in which counting workers supposedly hid or got rid of packages of currency or loose money. The SIT concludes that these duplicated acts ended up being possible since necessary safeguards– consisting of frisking– stayed mostly restricted to composed treatments and were not efficiently imposed.
While suggesting criminal procedures versus the 6 individuals apparently seen handling and hiding money, the SIT clarifies that its findings versus Dr Anil Mishra connect to supervisory responsibility and his supposed failure to make sure execution of necessary security procedures. It stresses that the findings belong to an initial examination which concerns connecting to institutional, administrative and supervisory obligation will be analyzed even more in the last report.