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Ram Temple (File Photo)
Ayodhya: Champat Rai’s role as the Ram Temple trust chief has come under intense scrutiny in connection with the alleged donation theft at the Ayodhya shrine. According to sources, the Special Investigation Team has raised serious questions over alleged oversight and the reported ignoring of earlier complaints related to donation theft.
Rai resigned as the General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Friday after the SIT arrested several people in the case. Sources said some of the accused are believed to be close associates of Rai.
According to sources, the SIT examined CCTV footage recorded between April 27 and June 5. The report allegedly found that employees involved in counting temple donations were seen stealing cash on nearly 70 occasions over a span of 40 days.
Sources claimed that all those arrested in the case had been assigned to the donation-counting process on the recommendation of Champat Rai and Anil Mishra.
The SIT report has reportedly raised questions over how several people were appointed to roles linked to the temple donation-counting process.
It is alleged that Anil Mishra facilitated the appointment of some close associates without proper background verification.
According to sources, Champat Rai did not directly handle the surveillance or donation-counting operations at the temple. Instead, these responsibilities were reportedly delegated to other officials.
The report also allegedly claims that complaints related to donation theft were ignored despite Rai being made aware of some such incidents.
It has further been alleged that even after earlier instances of cash recovery, the matter was not reported to the police.
Of the eight people arrested in connection with the case, only Tinnu Yadav and Subhash Srivastava were employees of the Ram Mandir Trust.
The remaining accused were reportedly on the payroll of the State Bank of India, which assists in the counting of donations at the temple.
Sources further claimed that questions have also been raised regarding the increase in Anil Mishra’s assets after he became a trustee.
However, no official findings have been announced on this aspect so far.
The investigation into the alleged donation theft is still underway, and further details are expected as the SIT continues to examine documents, CCTV footage and statements of those linked to the case.
