Allahabad High Court Refuses To Order CBI Probe Into Ram Temple Theft

Lucnow : The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought a court-monitored investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.  

The division bench, comprising Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla, observed that since a similar matter regarding the alleged financial embezzlement is already pending before the Supreme Court of India, it would be appropriate for the apex court to address the issue.

The PIL, filed by Lucknow-based advocate Mohit Ashok, had raised serious concerns over the handling of cash, gold, and silver offerings by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. Apart from demanding a central agency probe, the petitioner had requested a comprehensive forensic audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of all donations received since the temple trust's inception. It also urged the court to issue directions for preserving all financial logs, digital records, and CCTV footage from the premises.  

The controversy originally came to light after local police registered an FIR naming eight individuals, including contractual staff and sanitation workers, for systematically stealing from temple donation boxes. While the petitioner argued that local police might fail to uncover deeper systemic lapses or the potential involvement of high-ranking administrative officials, the court noted that the state government has already established a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.

 While disposing of the petition, the High Court also explicitly cautioned the petitioner against publicizing legal matters through media interviews before they are formally heard by the bench. Meanwhile, the temple trust is scheduling emergency administrative meetings to address the public outrage and strengthen internal security frameworks.