{"id":33520,"date":"2026-08-18T15:21:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/ram-mandir-theft-case-sit-submits-final-report\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T15:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:51:33","slug":"ram-mandir-theft-case-sit-submits-final-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/ram-mandir-theft-case-sit-submits-final-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Ram Mandir Theft Case: SIT Submits Final Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The SIT formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the alleged theft of offerings at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has submitted its final report. According to sources, the report does not name former Trust general secretary Champat Rai or Trust member Dr Anil Mishra. The other eight accused are already in jail.<\/p>\n

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The UP Home Department has handed the report to Ram Mandir Trust president Mahant Nrityagopal Das. It will be placed before the Trust at its meeting on September 2. The Trust had requested the Uttar Pradesh government to order an SIT investigation into the alleged theft of offerings.<\/p>\n

The state government constituted a three-member SIT on June 13 under the chairmanship of Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant. IG Range Kiran S and Special Secretary, Finance, Neel Ratan Kumar were its other members. The SIT submitted its preliminary report on June 23.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court later directed that the SIT investigation be placed under an IPS officer and that a finance expert be included. A new SIT was constituted on July 20, comprising Lucknow Range IG Kiran S, Ayodhya DIG Somen Verma and Ayodhya SSP Gaurav Grover. This SIT is still investigating the alleged theft of offerings.<\/p>\n

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SIT submitted preliminary report on June 23<\/strong><\/p>\n

The alleged theft first came to light on June 7. The UP government’s SIT submitted its preliminary report to Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad on June 23. An FIR was registered on June 25 on the complaint of Trust member Krishna Mohan. Eight people, including Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu, were named in the FIR. However, the names of senior office-bearers, including Champat Rai and Dr Anil Mishra, were not included.<\/p>\n

Within hours of the FIR being registered, police arrested all eight accused, including Tinnu. They are currently lodged in Faizabad jail. All eight have been accused of stealing cash and jewellery while counting offerings.<\/p>\n

Following the SIT’s preliminary report, general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Dr Anil Mishra resigned, taking moral responsibility. The Trust accepted both resignations and removed Gopal Nagarkatte from its list of special invitees.<\/p>\n

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Why did the Supreme Court order a second SIT?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four separate petitions related to the alleged offering theft case have been filed in the Supreme Court. Apart from seeking a CBI investigation, the petitioners have also sought the formation of an expert committee to examine various issues related to the management of donations at the Mandir.<\/p>\n

The earlier SIT was reporting at the state-government level, whereas the new SIT will submit periodic status reports directly to the Supreme Court. The apex court itself is monitoring the investigation.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court observed that police officers have a more direct and effective role in criminal investigations and the technical investigation of theft cases. Therefore, the investigation was handed over to police officers by including the DIG and SSP in the new SIT.<\/p>\n

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SC asks SIT to submit report in sealed cover<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday, lawyers representing the petitioners told the Supreme Court that they should also be provided with the investigation report so that they could assist the court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta responded that an investigation report could not be shared with people who were not directly connected with the case.<\/p>\n

The lawyer then argued, \u2018We are not strangers. This petition has been filed on behalf of the people of India. We have a fundamental right to know the truth. If investigation-related information is given to an accused or someone assisting the investigation while the petitioners are kept away from it, they will not be in a position to assist the court.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court responded firmly, saying, ‘We have constituted the SIT. It is accountable and answerable to this court. It must submit its report to us.’<\/em><\/p>\n

The court directed the SIT, which includes a forensic auditor, to submit its status report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. The court said it would examine the report first and then decide whether it should be shared with all parties.<\/p>\n

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The SIT formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the alleged theft of offerings at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has submitted its final report. According to sources, the report does not name former Trust general secretary Champat Rai or Trust member Dr Anil Mishra. The other eight accused are already in jail. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16505,29473,29471,29470,22772,24277,29469,29472],"class_list":["post-33520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-ayodhya","tag-ayodhya-latest","tag-mahant-nrityagopal-das","tag-ram-janmabhoomi-trust","tag-ram-mandir","tag-ram-mandir-news","tag-sit-report","tag-theft-investigation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}