Eight trustees of Mumbai's Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust wrote to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde demanding a high-level government inquiry.
The trustees estimate an annual loss of nearly ₹18 crore, suspecting the involvement of senior administrative officials alongside lower-level employees.
Weekly collections from donation boxes surged from under ₹50 lakh to approximately ₹1.5 crore following the arrest of nine accused employees.
Eight trustees of the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust petitioned Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for a high-level probe into suspected donation box thefts. The shrine reportedly loses nearly ₹18 crore annually. The main source of income for the temple is through puja bookings, prasad sales, digital transactions, gold offerings, and cash boxes.
Senior administrative officials face scrutiny as the trustees demanded a probe into top managers, writing they have "strong reasons to believe" the crime goes beyond lower-level employees.
Surge In Weekly Donations
Accounting records exposed the massive cash drain, weekly cash box collections typically remained under ₹50 lakh before police arrested the accused workers. Following the arrests, weekly collections rose sharply to around ₹1.5 crore every Wednesday.
Highlighting this stark contrast, the trustees wrote in a letter quoted by Raj Thackeray, "This clearly indicates that a substantial portion of the donations collected every week was being siphoned off before the money was counted. Based on these figures, we suspect that the temple may have suffered an annual loss of nearly ₹18 crore."
Eight trustees reportedly signed the letter. These included Atul Lodhe, Bhaskar Raut, Mahesh Murliadhar, Jitendra Raut, Meena Kamble, Mangala Tupe, Gopal Dalvi and Sudarshan Sangale. They said the board successfully raised temple revenues by almost 25% during the last 18 months by introducing new management steps.
Political Row And Arrests
The political row erupted on Saturday after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray highlighted the allegations during a student wing gathering. Reading sections of the trustees' letter, Thackeray said thieves stole ₹18 crore annually from the shrine.
Thackeray also targeted highlighted the Ram Temple issue. He said thieves stole ₹1,400 crore from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the matter. "Frustrated youths visit temples, but even temples are not safe from corruption," Thackeray said.
Police arrested nine temple employees with Siddhivinayak Temple Trust chairman Sada Sarvankar confirming the arrests, explaining that the administration initiated legal action against those involved. "We have filed cases wherever required," Sarvankar told PTI.
