Ram Mandir donation theft: Custody of eight accused extended

The court has ordered that the eight men arrested in connection with the alleged theft of donation money for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple stay in judicial custody a little longer – now until September 21. Their lawyer, Bakul Shekhar Singh, Deputy Chief Legal and Defence Counsel, conveyed the extension in a brief filing.

Those eight – Avinash Shukla, Ankalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Rama Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Rama Shankar (who goes by ‘Tinnu’) – were taken into custody after a First Information Report was lodged on June 25 at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station. The FIR, filed by Krishanmohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, alleges theft, embezzlement and a pre‑planned diversion of funds that devotees had contributed in good faith.

While the legal drama unfolds, the trust itself felt the need to address a completely unrelated swirl of speculation about its top‑level appointment. Some media outlets had hinted that Air Marshal Jitendra Mishra, a former senior Air Force officer, had been excluded from the interview rounds for the Trust’s new Chief Executive Officer. The Trust’s General Secretary, Swami Govind Dev Giri, set the record straight on Monday.

According to the official statement, a Search Committee was formed on July 6, 2026, and sifted through a whopping 5,585 applications. After an AI‑driven shortlisting and a manual review that spanned Delhi‑NCR, Pune and Sambalpur, sixteen candidates were invited for in‑person interviews in Ayodhya on August 11‑12. The Air Marshal did, in fact, sit for the interview on August 11 during the first session.

The committee handed over its final recommendations on September 1, and the Trust publicly announced the three top contenders on September 2. The clarification was meant to put to rest any doubts about the fairness of the selection process.

Back to the court case – the eight accused remain in custody as investigators continue to piece together how much money was allegedly diverted and where it might have gone. The extension gives the prosecution a bit more breathing room to gather evidence and, hopefully, bring the matter to a transparent conclusion.

As the story develops, both the legal proceedings and the trust’s internal affairs will be watched closely by devotees, media and the broader public alike.