Three men arrested in the alleged Ram temple donation theft case laundered the stolen money through the bank accounts of friends and relatives, police sources said, exposing a well-planned operation to siphon off devotees’ offerings and erase the money trail.
The disclosures come as the Special Investigation Team’s probe widens to scrutinise the temple’s donation management system and the role of the State Bank of India (SBI) in overseeing it.
According to sources, main accused Anukul Mishra, Luvkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey admitted during questioning that they routed the stolen cash through the accounts of close associates before transferring it back to themselves to avoid suspicion. Investigators have reportedly corroborated parts of their claims using bank records.
Following this, 30 bank accounts belonging to the accused and their family members were frozen.
The three accused were taken into police custody after a court granted their remand in the donation theft case. According to sources, they confessed to working with co-accused Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu and donation-counting in-charge Subhash Srivastava to steal cash from offerings and launder the proceeds.
Sources said the accused also revealed where they had hidden stolen cash and jewellery. Already, Rs 79 lakh in cash and jewellery have been recovered from premises linked to the accused.
Police have identified Avinash Shukla as the prime accused in an alleged 40-day racket involving nearly 70 instances of pilferage from the Ram temple’s donation-counting system. Eight people, including Shukla, have been arrested so far.
Investigators believe the thefts began with small amounts before growing into systematic thefts. According to the probe, the accused allegedly slipped Rs 500 notes into their socks, pockets and under clothing while counting donations, exploiting weak frisking procedures and poor CCTV monitoring.
According to sources, the accused told investigators they believed they would never be caught because security checks were lax. They allegedly admitted to stealing as much cash as possible whenever they had the opportunity and claimed they had secured their jobs through recommendations from Ram temple trust officials. Sources said the name of Anil Mishra also surfaced during questioning.
Police have already recovered Rs 79 lakh in cash and jewellery from premises linked to the accused during the investigation, with more recoveries expected based on fresh revelations.
The SIT has meanwhile expanded its probe beyond the role of contractual workers to examine the trust’s financial transactions, administrative processes and expenditure. Its preliminary report also raises serious concerns over SBI’s oversight of the donation-counting process.
According to the report, SBI was responsible not only for receiving counted cash but also for supervising counting operations, ensuring currency-counting machines functioned properly, monitoring deployed personnel, enforcing security measures and ensuring compliance with standard operating procedures.
Investigators found several of these safeguards were either poorly enforced or ignored altogether, weakening transparency and accountability in handling devotees’ offerings. The report stated that the failure to implement prescribed protocols significantly eroded the system of checks and balances meant to protect the donation management process.
Sources said cops are now preparing to question SBI officials associated with the donation management process, along with outsourced personnel engaged by the bank for cash counting, as investigators examine whether systemic lapses enabled the alleged thefts.
– Ends
Published By:
Devika Bhattacharya
Published On:
Jul 9, 2026 11:39 IST
