Pocketless Clothes, Police Checks: 23 Staff Members Quit As Ram Temple Tightens Donation Counting Norms

Last Updated:July 10, 2026, 11:09 IST

The stricter rules have coincided with the resignation of 23 employees who were involved in counting donations.

Ram Temple Donation Row: Amid the ongoing controversy over the alleged donation theft at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya, the temple trust has implemented a stricter security and administrative measures for staff involved in handling and counting donations.

What Are The New Rules?

Under the new rules as imposed by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, a special team of employees would be appointed for counting the cash collected from the temple’s donation boxes. Earlier, housekeeping staff had also been assigned the task of counting donations, but they will now be shifted back to their original housekeeping duties.

Employees engaged in counting donations will have to wear clothes without pockets to prevent any possibility of theft or tampering. They will also be required to follow enhanced security protocols throughout the counting process.

The temple trust has also made police-verified character certificates mandatory for employees working at the holy shrine as part of tighter background checks.

23 Staff Members Quit

As the temple trust overhauled the donation-counting system after the donation theft controversy, as many as twenty-three employees responsible for counting donations have resigned.

The employees submitted their resignations to the contracting agency that employed them.

The temple trust is now expected to recruit new counting staff under the revised verification and security norms as it seeks to strengthen transparency in the donation management system.

Ram Temple Donation Row

The case centres on allegations that cash and valuables donated to the temple may have been misappropriated. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) continues its probe into the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple. The Uttar Pradesh government recently granted the SIT a 15-day extension to widen the scope of its investigation on July 1.

Champat Rai resigned as the former general secretary of the temple trust following the SIT probe into the alleged donation theft.

Eight people associated with the temple’s donation collection and counting process have been arrested so far, while the investigation into the alleged misappropriation of devotees’ contributions is continuing.

So far, investigators have recovered substantial amounts of cash from the accused, including Rs 20.39 lakh from Avinash Shukla, Rs 18.07 lakh from Karunesh Pandey, Rs 16.82 lakh from Anukalp Mishra, Rs 14.25 lakh from Lavkush Mishra, Rs 7.32 lakh from Ramashankar Mishra and Rs 1 lakh from Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu.

About the Author

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degre...Read More

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