Blinded cameras and toilet stashes: Investigation reveals multi-crore insider racket in Ayodhya Ram Temple theft

AYODHYA: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the multi-crore theft at the Ayodhya Ram Temple has uncovered a highly coordinated insider racket. Recent disclosures and CCTV footage analysis reveal that a segment of the staff assigned to count temple donations had been systematically siphoning off funds using meticulous diversion tactics.

According to police sources, the accused carried out the thefts with meticulous planning during the cash-counting sessions. CCTV footage reviewed by the SIT shows a recurring pattern: one employee would deliberately stand directly in front of the security camera to block its line of sight. Utilising this brief blind spot, accomplices would swiftly remove high-denomination currency notes from the piles and conceal them inside their clothing.

The syndicate also exploited a major loophole in the temple administration's daily auditing process. Supervisors responsible for cross-checking the cash typically counted only the number of currency bundles rather than verifying individual notes within each stack. The accused manipulated this by altering the density of the bundles. The surplus cash generated through this discrepancy was later siphoned off while the money was being transported to the bank.

To evade immediate detection by security personnel, the stolen cash was initially hidden inside the toilets within the temple complex. Once an opportune moment arose, the money was smuggled out of the premises and distributed among the group members.

Investigating officers state that the racket had likely been operational since the temple opened to the public in January 2024. The scale of the operation became evident when the SIT scanned the temple’s surveillance archive, identifying at least 70 distinct instances of theft captured on camera between April 27 and June 5 alone.

The SIT has formally arrested eight individuals, all of whom were part of the official money-counting team. The suspects have been identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ramshanker Yadav, who also goes by the alias Tinnu Yadav. All eight accused are currently under police remand and are undergoing intensive interrogation to trace the recovery of the stolen funds and identify any potential external links.

While official administrative confirmation on the exact financial deficit is still awaited, internal reports estimate that the total amount embezzled by the racket ranges between ₹7 crore and ₹7.5 crore. Further investigation into the security lapses is underway.