- Photograph shows accused Avinash Shukla and Anukalp Mishra inside Ram Mandir counting room
- Eight accused arrested, including Avinash, Anukalp; trustee Anil Mishra had 'supreme powers'
- Two separate donation counting centres operated due to increased offerings after Kumbh festival
Startling revelations have emerged in the Ayodhya Ram Temple donation theft case.
For the first time, a photograph has surfaced showing accused Avinash Shukla and Anukalp Mishra inside the counting room at the Ram Mandir complex. The donations by the devotees were counted in the same room.
Avinash and Anukalp are two of the eight accused arrested so far in the case. The others are Tinnu Yadav, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, and Subhash Srivastava.
Police sources said the accused freely took out cash as the CCTV control room was not being monitored initially. Police now have CCTV footage of the accused removing cash from the temple. Sources told NDTV that the accused initially tried to avoid the CCTVs, but later openly took out cash in front of the cameras after realising the control room was not being monitored.
'Supreme Powers' To Anil Mishra
The probe has revealed that Ram Mandir Trust General Secretary Champat Rai, who has now resigned, had given "supreme power" to Anil Mishra, a trustee and an accused in the case.
In March 2025, the Trust recruited 10 new people for cash counting. Champat Rai sent all of them to Anil Mishra, who interviewed and hired them. The candidates met Mishra on March 4. On March 6, 2025, they were appointed and began work.
In a major security lapse, none of them initially had ID cards. The Trust issued a duty sheet, which was used to enter the temple premises.
All new employees were paid Rs 18,000 per month by the Trust and worked from 9 am to 5 pm.
The accused seen outside the temple
Two Counting Centres Set Up
Donations were counted at two separate centres, not one. After the Kumbh, due to the heavy rush of devotees and a manifold increase in offerings, two centres were set up.
The first counting centre was in the Pilgrim Facilitation Centre (PFC) building within the temple premises. The second was set up at a police post inside the temple premises.
The 10 newly recruited staff were assigned to the counting centre at the police post for sorting notes, making bundles, and counting using machines.
Anukalp, Avinash, Karunesh and Lavkush were posted at the cash counting centre at the police post. After Swatantra Pandey, Ravindranath, Tarun Malviya and Himanshu Tripathi quit, Manish Yadav and Ramashankar joined the cash counting room.
Main counting centre
The main counting centre was in the basement of the PFC building, where a monitoring room, staff dining hall, and SBI counter were located. Security was handled by SIS Security personnel, and CRPF jawans were also deployed there at times.
Two to three people were on duty in the monitoring room, but they mostly remained outside.
There was no effective monitoring of the counting process, leaving scope for theft. The 10 employees appointed by the Trust counted cash at the police post. The camera and its monitoring screen were in the same room, but surveillance was very weak.
'God Is Watching'
Retired bank employee and accused Subhash Srivastava was in charge of the counting process. His responsibility was to get cash taken out of donation boxes, send it to the counting room, and finally hand it over to SBI.
According to sources, there was never a systematic record of jewelery, making it relatively easy to steal.
Sources said the theft first came to light in February. A member of the counting team had informed in-charge Subhash Srivastava that money was being stolen during counting. Srivastava allegedly replied, "God is watching, it's not as if it's going from your or my house."
