| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The anchor says he cannot explain why per-devotee donations at Ram Mandir are only ₹20–30 compared to other temples, and demands that this discrepancy be investigated.
donation gap probe demand
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
It is possible that the Ram Mandir actually receives as much in donations as other major temples, but that donation money was being stolen — devotees may be giving ₹100 or more per head rather than ₹20–30.
theft scale hypothesis
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya received about 7 crore devotees in a year — the highest footfall of the temples compared — but only ₹153 crore in donations, meaning each devotee donated on average only about ₹20–30.
Ram Mandir donation gap
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Maharashtra received 3 crore devotees in 2025–26 and roughly ₹660 crore in donations, averaging about ₹220 per devotee.
Shirdi donations
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The Mata Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu & Kashmir gets about 95 lakh visitors annually and received about ₹231 crore in donations.
Vaishno Devi donations
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The Sri Venkateswara (Tirupati Balaji) temple in Andhra Pradesh gets about 2.5 crore devotees annually and received about ₹1,600 crore in donations in 2025 — the highest of any temple in India — averaging roughly ₹644 per devotee.
Tirupati donations
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The temple's system was not preventing theft but effectively helping the thieves; the entire cash management system was unprofessional.
cash management failure
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
Several discrepancies were found in the temple's records and documents for valuables, and an audit of the entire inventory management system is now underway.
inventory record gaps
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The investigation found that employees entering and exiting the temple were not being strictly frisked by the private security guards, and police suspect cash was taken out of the temple by exploiting this.
lax frisking
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
CCTV footage revealed that on several occasions bundles of cash were handed to certain individuals instead of being deposited directly in the bank.
cash diversion
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
Despite CCTV surveillance, the temple had several blind spots, and per the investigation, counting staff would sometimes stand directly in front of camera lenses to block the view.
CCTV blind spots
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The rule requiring counting staff to wear pocketless clothing was broken — many employees began counting donations wearing normal clothes with pockets.
dress code lapse
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
In the counting room, located in the basement of the pilgrim facility centre, the 40 donation boxes are opened only in the presence of trust officials, State Bank of India staff and counting employees, and 44 employees count the donations in two shifts before the cash is sealed and deposited into the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust's SBI account.
donation counting process
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
In the year 2024–25, the Ram Mandir received donations of ₹153 crore, comprising cash as well as gold, silver, diamonds and jewellery.
Ram Mandir donations
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The Ram Mandir has 40 donation boxes in total, and on average 75,000 to 1 lakh devotees visit every day.
temple footfall
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communal religion |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
Private security guards often collude with criminals for petty gain, and here too the private security guards likely colluded with the accused.
security guard collusion
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
According to sources, around 400 private security guards connected to the temple's security arrangements are now also being investigated.
security guards probe
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The FIR in this case was registered only after the SIT's initial report, and eight people were arrested.
FIR and arrests
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The SIT was constituted on June 13 with 15 days to investigate, after which it submitted its initial report to the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
SIT investigation timeline
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
UP Police today raided the homes of four of the eight accused, and the Uttar Pradesh government today extended the tenure of the SIT investigating the donation theft by another 15 days.
SIT probe raids
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
The accused are people whose monthly salary is only ₹20,000–25,000 (₹2–2.5 lakh a year), yet lakhs of rupees are being recovered from them.
disproportionate assets
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
Police recovered approximately ₹18 lakh from Karunesh Pandey, ₹16 lakh from Anukalp Mishra, ₹14 lakh from Lavkush Mishra, and ₹7 lakh plus about 25 grams of silver from Ramashankar Mishra.
accused cash recovery
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
From accused Avinash Shukla, police recovered about 1,100 US dollars (worth roughly ₹1 lakh), about 11 grams of gold, and 159 grams of silver, in addition to cash.
accused asset recovery
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crime |
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| Sudhir Chaudhary |
2026-07-01 |
UP Police told the court that it has recovered approximately ₹78 lakh so far from seven accused in the Ram Mandir donation theft case.
donation theft recovery
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crime |
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| Anjana Om Kashyap |
2026-07-01 |
150 CCTV cameras have been installed on the Delhi–Dehradun Expressway, but they are being used only for issuing challans rather than preventing road accidents.
CCTV enforcement use
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