Ram Temple Donation Theft: CCTV Footage, Rs 80 lakh Recovery And Hiring Process Under Probe

Five of the eight men arrested in the alleged theft of donation money from the Ram temple in Ayodhya were captured on CCTV footage allegedly removing bundles of cash during the counting process and concealing them in their clothes or socks, according to Indian Express. Police have also recovered nearly Rs 80 lakh during searches linked to the accused.

The investigation has now widened beyond the alleged theft itself to the manner in which the counting personnel were appointed. Indian Express reported that the manpower agency through which the workers were hired has claimed it had no role in selecting them, saying the names were recommended by the State Bank of India (SBI), where the temple's donated funds were deposited. Police are also examining whether there were wider lapses in recruitment, access control and the handling of donation money.

Sources in the Ayodhya police said a review of 45 days of CCTV footage from the temple's Pilgrim Facility Centre showed five counting personnel removing bundles of notes from the cash pile and hiding them in their clothes or socks.

Police registered an FIR on June 25 on a complaint by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and arrested Avinash Shukla, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav and Subhash Srivastav.

According to Indian Express, Tinnu Yadav is Trust general secretary Champat Rai's former driver, while Manish Yadav is Tinnu's nephew. Sources said cash was recovered from premises linked to Anukalp Mishra, Luvkush Mishra, Avinash Shukla and Manish Yadav.

Sources said the Trust had engaged around 50 people to count notes and coins deposited in various hundis at the temple.

An officer said, “During the counting, five individuals can be seen whisking away bundles of notes from the pile, hiding them in their clothes or shoving it in socks. Searches at the premises linked to these individuals have already led to recovery of cash. Unfortunately, the temple does not retain more than 45 days of CCTV footage. So we cannot say with certainty for how long this theft has been going on.”

The officer said police were now examining documents recovered from premises linked to the accused to ascertain whether any property or other assets had been acquired using the allegedly stolen money.

“We are examining the various other ways that donation money was stolen from the temple. Even employees of the bank are under scrutiny,” the officer said.

Six of the eight arrested were hired for the counting work by SBI through Sainik Securities, a Varanasi-based manpower agency.

Speaking to Indian Express, Sainik Securities director Gaurav Singh said the agency provides housekeeping staff to banks and other firms.

“We don’t provide banking-related manpower, but housekeeping staff. What a bank or firm uses the staff for is up to them,” he said.

Singh said the agency had no freedom to choose the personnel for the Ram temple assignment.

“In this case, SBI gave us names of the people to be hired. We verified their credentials by examining their Aadhaar cards and processed the paperwork. These men have never worked with us earlier,” Singh said, adding that documentary evidence to this effect had been provided to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case.

Confirming the agency's claim, a police officer said, “It only goes to show that the temple was being run through adhocism. It has also been pointed out in the SIT report. Several of the accused are related to each other or to a trust functionary. A large number of people appointed for counting of notes, apart from the accused, have also been hired in an ad hoc manner, because somebody was known to somebody. There was no proper vetting of individuals before hiring, nor was access control to the counting facility robust with proper checks and frisking.”

The officer said bank officials were also under the scanner.

Indian Express reported that a questionnaire sent to SBI regarding the claims made by its vendor, through which some of the suspects were hired, had not elicited a response.

(With inputs from Indian Express)