Ayodhya: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is set to meet in Ayodhya on Monday to consider the resignations of its general secretary, Champat Rai, and trustee Anil Kumar Mishra following the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple. The meeting is also expected to focus on administrative changes and measures to strengthen the temple’s management in the wake of the controversy.
The donation theft case came to light in June after the Trust detected alleged irregularities in the handling of devotees’ cash offerings and sought a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe. Police have since arrested eight members of the temple’s cash-counting team on allegations of siphoning off donation money. During the investigation, authorities recovered nearly ₹79.9 lakh in cash from various locations allegedly linked to the accused, including bathrooms, haystacks and cow dung cakes. The investigation is continuing.
The Trust meeting will begin at 3 p.m. at the Yatri Suvidha Kendra within the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi complex, with members attending both physically and virtually.
Trustees Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, Yugpurush Swami Parmanand and Krishna Mohan have already reached Ayodhya, while treasurer Govind Dev Giri, chairman of the temple construction committee Nripendra Misra and Swami Vishwaprasannatirth are expected to attend in person. Senior advocate K. Parasaran and some other trustees will participate virtually.
Trustee Mahant Dhirendra Das, who left for Gujarat to visit his ailing guru, will also join the meeting online.
The Trust’s ex-officio members representing the Uttar Pradesh government — Ayodhya District Magistrate Shashank Tripathi and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad — will attend in person, while Union Home Ministry Additional Secretary Prashant Lokhande is expected to participate virtually.
Apart from deciding on the resignations, the Trust is expected to deliberate on reforms to the temple’s financial management and donation-handling system. There is also speculation that new office-bearers could be inducted to fill key positions following the controversy.
