Ram Mandir Donation Theft Case: FIR against 8 including Tinnu Yadav; Know charges and possible punishment

Formerly the driver for Trust General Secretary Champat Rai; he was found to have direct involvement in nearly all temple activities. He even held the keys to the donation boxes.

Ayodhya: Following Chief Minister Yogi's directives, an FIR was finally registered 20 days later regarding the embezzlement of funds from the Ram Mandir's donation boxes. Ramshankar Yadav 'Tinnu'-formerly the driver for Trust General Secretary Champat Rai-was found to have direct involvement in almost all temple operations; notably, he even held the keys to the donation boxes.

Names of the accused in the FIR

Ramshankar Yadav 'Tinnu': Formerly the driver for Trust General Secretary Champat Rai; he was found to have direct involvement in nearly all temple activities. He even held the keys to the donation boxes.

Anukalp Mishra: An employee involved in counting cash. He has been identified as the mastermind behind the embezzlement scheme and was the first to be apprehended. Rs 20 lakh was recovered from his residence in Kaushalpuri.

Lav-Kush Mishra: Anukalp Mishra's brother-in-law. He was hired through the recommendation of his father-in-law (Anukalp's father), Ravindra Mishra. Approximately Rs 10 lakh in cash was found at his home.

Manish Yadav: Tinnu Yadav's nephew. He had been hired by Tinnu only about four or five months prior. Some cash was recovered from his premises as well.

Subhash Srivastava: After retiring from Canara Bank, he was not only hired by the Trust but also assigned to oversee the cash-counting process.

Avinash Shukla: Involved in the counting process; a resident of Ayodhya city. Rs 5 lakh was recovered from his account.

Karunesh Pandey: Involved in the counting process; described as a close associate of Anukalp.

Ramashankar Mishra: Involved in the cash-counting process. Some cash was recovered from him as well.

BNS Sections applied to the accused

Section 306: Theft of property. Provision for a seven-year sentence.

Section 316(5): Criminal breach of trust. Punishment includes life imprisonment or a term extending up to ten years. Sections 317(4) and 317(5): Knowingly concealing or assisting in the disposal of stolen or embezzled property. Punishment ranges from three to seven years of imprisonment.

Section 61: Orchestrating a criminal conspiracy. Upon conviction, the punishment is equivalent to that of the principal offense.

Section 3(5): Committing a crime as part of an organized group. Upon conviction, the punishment is equivalent to that of the principal offense.

The Offering Theft: Timeline

June 5: The incident regarding the theft of temple offerings in Ayodhya came to light.

June 7: Samajwadi Party leader and former minister Pawan Pandey alleged the theft of Rs 5 crore to Rs 7.5 crore from the Ram Mandir's donation boxes and offerings. Akhilesh Yadav commented on the theft incident in a post on X at 7 PM. That same evening, Champat Rai, General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, issued a clarification.

June 8: Champat Rai dismissed the allegations. Nripendra Misra, Chairman of the Temple Construction Committee, visited Ayodhya late that evening and returned the following day.

June 9: BJP leader Dr. Rajnish Singh wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding an investigation by an independent central agency such as the CBI or ED.

June 10: The Prime Minister's Office sought a detailed report. On the same day, Temple Construction Committee Chairman Nripendra Misra arrived in Ayodhya and held a four-hour-long meeting.

June 11: A video featuring Mahipal Singh, a former accountant for the Ram Mandir Trust, circulated; he claimed to have detected a theft in 2021–2022, the footage of which was subsequently deleted.

June 13: An SIT (Special Investigation Team) was constituted to investigate the matter at the Trust's request.

June 15: The SIT gathered information from Champat Rai, General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, and invitee member Gopal Rai. Eight to ten employees were questioned for approximately six hours.

June 16: The team questioned Champat Rai and Gopal Rai for four hours each. Scrutinized the Trust's records covering an 11-month period. Conducted extensive questioning of the staff responsible for counting offerings.

June 17: The investigation team questioned bank officials and representatives from the private agency handling the counting of currency notes. Bank statements and financial records were also examined.

June 18: The team spent 10 hours at the temple complex. Dr. Anil Mishra was questioned for four hours, and Titu Yadav for one and a half hours. Their statements were cross-verified.

June 19: Champat Rai, Dr. Anil Mishra, and Gopal Rai (in-charge of Ram Mandir construction) were questioned separately. The State Bank branch manager and cashier were also questioned.

June 20: The team gathered details regarding the bank accounts of all accused individuals and suspects and collected evidence. After the investigation, they departed for Lucknow with the collected evidence.

June 23: On Tuesday, the SIT submitted a 20-page preliminary report to Sanjay Prasad, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department.

June 25: FIR registered.