Laxity Allowed: Champat Rai Blames Bank For Ram Temple Donation Theft
Former Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai has finally decided that silence was overrated, issuing a handwritten letter to Ram devotees calling the embezzlement allegations against him baseless. Rai claimed the security guideline letter governing donation counting was written in haste and that he was never even a signatory to it, a defence that conveniently shifts blame toward the State Bank of India while he was reportedly the one running the trust like his personal fiefdom, according to critics.
Rai pointed to laxity in implementing the standard operating procedures finalised in 2025 by trust officials and SBI representatives, procedures that were actually signed off by trustee Anil Mishra and SBI's Govind Mishra , not by Rai himself. Convenient timing for a man who somehow oversaw the temple for years yet apparently never got around to signing the one document meant to prevent exactly this kind of theft. Rai vowed to reveal the entire truth and respond point by point only after the Special Investigation Team submits its final report, a promise that sounds suspiciously like buying time.
In the last 24 hours, the trust formally confirmed that Rai and Mishra are no longer members, ending days of speculation. Trust treasurer Govind Dev Giri defended Rai, insisting his only mistake was placing excessive trust in the wrong associates, while simultaneously admitting the temple's donation system operated in an atmosphere that allowed theft to flourish, which is a rather generous way of describing institutional failure. Giri also turned his fire on the bank, stating SBI should not have shirked its responsibility and that the FIR should actually have been filed by the bank itself rather than the trust.
Interim general secretary Krishna Mohan , a retired Indian Forest Service officer, has taken charge of daily operations, with the trust set to decide on July 22 whether to make his appointment permanent. A three member panel led by retired Justice Pramod Kohli , along with Vishnukant Chaturvedi and Suresh Haware , has been formed to appoint a new chief executive officer, because apparently nobody thought a professional CEO was necessary until money started disappearing.
The SIT has meanwhile found repeated instances of employees concealing cash during counting and flagged serious lapses in security and oversight across the temple complex. The probe now includes a full financial forensic audit meant to reconstruct the temple's entire donation trail since the 2024 consecration, alongside scrutiny of two SBI staffers who supervised the cash counting process. Investigators previously recovered over 79 lakh rupees from the eight arrested accused, stashed in locations ranging from bathrooms to haystacks and cow dung cakes, proof that hiding stolen temple money apparently required more creativity than actually preventing the theft.
The trust also disclosed that of the 3,264 crore rupees received through donations and fund campaigns, 2,370 crore rupees went toward construction, while of the 582 crore rupees collected in offerings until March 2026, 391 crore rupees covered operational expenses. Trust members displayed disputed items to the press, insisting all 2,926 offerings remain fully recorded, an assurance that would carry more weight had the alleged theft not already made headlines for weeks. Opposition leaders continue demanding transparency, with CPI(M) MP John Brittas pressing the Union government on why the trust remains exempt from the Right to Information Act despite being created under a Supreme Court approved scheme.