Ram Temple Trust to decide on Champat Rai, Anil Mishra resignations amid donation row

The executive committee of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust will meet in Ayodhya on Monday afternoon amid mounting controversy over alleged irregularities in temple donations, with the resignations of general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra expected to dominate the discussions.

The meeting, scheduled for 3 pm, has been shifted from the Mani Ram Chhavni campus to the Ram Mandir premises. Trust treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri is expected to formally place the resignations before the executive committee, while both Rai and Mishra are likely to present their positions during the deliberations, people familiar with the matter said.

The committee is also expected to discuss appointing a chief executive officer to introduce professional management of the Ram temple.

Professional management in focus

Trust member Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati on Sunday backed the need for professional management of the trust while responding to the Uttar Pradesh government’s ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged donation scam.

“If such an incident has taken place, it is condemnable. Such a crime cannot be accepted,” he said.

However, the senior seer ruled out any overhaul of the trust’s structure, saying it was constituted under the directions of the Supreme Court.

“There is no need to reconstitute the trust. What is needed is professional management so that such controversies do not arise again,” he said, while also defending Champat Rai and describing the allegations against him as baseless.

Another trustee, Mahant Dinendra Das of the Nirmohi Akhara, has also rejected the allegations.

SIT probe gathers pace

The SIT investigation has so far led to the arrest of eight people in connection with the alleged diversion of temple donations.

Those arrested include Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav alias ‘Tinnu’, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra and Karunesh Pandey.

Investigators last week recovered ₹79.85 lakh in cash from locations including bathrooms, haystacks and cow dung cakes.

Among the accused, Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra are related to trustee Anil Mishra, while Ram Shankar Yadav is known to be an aide of Champat Rai.

Key agenda items

Besides the resignations of Rai and Mishra, the executive committee is expected to discuss:

• The ongoing SIT investigation into alleged donation irregularities.
• Measures to strengthen the trust’s management, including appointing a CEO.
• The trust’s audit report and financial statements for 2025-26.
• Any additional matters approved by chairman Mahant Nritya Gopal Das.

Attendance uncertainty

It remains unclear how many members will attend the meeting.

The trust originally had 15 members, but one trustee’s position remains vacant following the death of Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra. Several senior members, including chairman Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, Swami Paramanand and senior advocate Keshav Parasaran, have also been unwell in recent months, although Das and Vasudevanand have reached Ayodhya for the meeting.

Under the trust deed, acceptance of the resignations requires the approval of a two-thirds majority of members.

Political reactions

The controversy has also triggered political exchanges.

BJP national president Dilip Jaiswal accused the Opposition of attempting to exploit an issue linked to the faith of millions of Hindus, saying the party would not allow anyone to undermine sentiments associated with the Ram temple.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas renewed his demand for greater transparency in the trust’s functioning. A day after writing to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Brittas argued that the Centre’s institutional involvement in the trust cannot be ignored and called for a review of the government’s position that the trust falls outside the ambit of the Right to Information Act.