Overview
- Allegations that donations and offerings were siphoned from the Ram Mandir first surfaced on June 7 and prompted a three‑member Uttar Pradesh SIT that has so far led to the arrest of eight people who handled cash and valuables.
- The SIT’s interim report found weak oversight, ineffective security, a cash‑counting system that lacked traceability and gaps in surveillance and standard procedures, and it has publicly identified documentary links to at least one trustee figure.
- Two trustees, Champat Rai and Anil Mishra, resigned saying they took moral responsibility while no senior trust office‑bearers have been formally charged and the arrests to date have targeted lower‑level counting staff.
- Congress intensified nationwide pressure with multiple July 10–11 briefings calling the SIT probe a 'farce', demanding a Supreme Court‑monitored judicial inquiry, a forensic audit, dissolution and reconstitution of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, and plans to press the issue when Parliament meets.
- The trust’s status as a Centre‑set but privately structured body ruled outside the RTI Act is limiting routine public scrutiny and raises legal questions about whether courts or a forensic audit must be used to secure full transparency; the SIT’s final report is expected around July 15 and Parliament reconvenes on July 20.