Champat Rai escapes scrutiny amid political ties
Champat Rai's close ties with BJP and RSS leadership shield him from scrutiny.
It was bound to happen. Champat Rai has been exonerated. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the theft of offerings at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has given a clean chit to the former General Secretary of the trust, Champat Rai. The SIT has also cleared former trust member Anil Mishra of the allegations. After the allegations of theft surfaced, both Rai and Mishra had resigned from their positions in the trust managing the Ayodhya Ram Temple.
Now, the big question is how Champat Rai received a clean chit when direct allegations were made against him. In fact, Champat Rai is known to have close ties with the top leadership of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Wire reported that,
The closeness of Champat Rai with the top leadership of the BJP can be gauged from the fact that during the 2018 elections of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), he passed a sort of "loyalty test." At that time, he supported a candidate considered close to Prime Minister Modi's camp. Rai was also considered close to the former international president of the VHP and hardline Hindutva leader Ashok Singhal. Ashok Singhal emerged as a prominent face during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
The latest development is that on 17 August 2026, the Supreme Court also directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to present a status report in this matter. This directive was given during the hearing of several petitions seeking a court-monitored investigation into financial irregularities in the collection of offerings made by devotees.
The Supreme Court commented,
We also permit the petitioners or any other genuine person working in the public interest to provide their suggestions to the office of the Solicitor General regarding aspects that may require thorough investigation by the SIT. The office of the Solicitor General will forward these suggestions to the SIT. We have no doubt that the SIT will consider these suggestions impartially.
On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh Home Department handed over the final report of the Special Investigation Team in the Ayodhya Ram Temple offering theft case to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for further action. It should be noted that Rai and Mishra resigned from the trust on 27 June after the theft allegations surfaced. Subsequently, the SIT questioned both regarding the donation management process at the temple. According to sources, during the questioning, Champat Rai denied any involvement in the donation theft at the temple. He stated that the suspects were arrested following his own complaint. Sources also mentioned that Rai informed the police that it was his responsibility to ensure no irregularities occurred in the offering theft, and as soon as he became aware of any irregularity, he took immediate action.
The three-member SIT was formed by the state government on 13 June at the request of the trust. This step was taken before the Supreme Court's intervention in the matter. The SIT was headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant. The other members included Lucknow Range Inspector General of Police Kiran S. and Special Secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan Kumar. The committee submitted its preliminary report to the state government on 23 June, which included several stringent recommendations. Based on the preliminary report, trust member Krishna Mohan filed a written complaint at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi police station, following which an FIR was registered on 25 June.
The FIR named eight individuals—Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu—along with some unidentified persons as accused. All of them have been arrested. They have been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The preliminary report later became the basis for the FIR and the subsequent arrests. The case was registered at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi police station based on the complaint by trust member Krishna Mohan. All eight accused named in the FIR have been arrested and are currently in jail.
The preliminary SIT report revealed that between 27 April and 5 June 2026, around 70 incidents of cash theft were caught in the counting room, where the donation cash was counted. CCTV footage showed employees repeatedly hiding cash and taking it outside.
The report also pointed to the non-compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) jointly adopted by the trust and the State Bank of India (SBI). This included the lack of proper frisking of employees at entry and exit points. Following the Supreme Court's directive, the investigation of the case registered in Ayodhya is now being monitored by another SIT headed by Lucknow Range IG Kiran S.
The controversy first came to light on 7 June when Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan 'Pawan' Pandey alleged that there was embezzlement of around ₹5 crore to ₹7.5 crore received as offerings at the temple. On 13 June, the state government formed the SIT at the request of the temple trust. Subsequently, a preliminary investigation was conducted in Ayodhya between 15 and 20 June.
The SIT investigated the entire donation management process. This included donation boxes, cash counting, storage of cash and valuables, accounting procedures, access control, and CCTV surveillance. The preliminary investigation revealed prima facie irregularities in the management of cash and valuable items offered by devotees.
After the historic Supreme Court verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in 2019, the Government of India formed the trust to oversee the construction of the temple. According to the trust's website, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced its formation in 2020. Out of the total 15 members of the trust, 12 were appointed by the government, while three other members were selected in the first meeting. According to the details presented at the executive committee meeting held in Ayodhya by the trust on 21 March,
between 1 April 2025 and 28 February 2026, the trust received offerings amounting to ₹82.78 crore.