Amid the Ram Temple embezzlement case, the demand for transparency and accountability in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was raised on Thursday (July 16, 2026). This includes a call for a one-time independent retrospective reconciliation of all cash and valuable donations received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust since February 5, 2020, as well as a brief “Donor Assurance Certificate” based on such findings, to protect the confidence of devotees and donors.
Lucknow-based social activist and former 1992-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amitabh Thakur has put forth a demand to the Ram Temple Trust to ensure that the required transparency and accountability are achieved and public faith is restored.
“I sought a one-time independent retrospective reconciliation of all cash and valuable donations received by Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust since 05 February 2020. In my letter to the Chairman/General Secretary of the Trust, I said that the recent developments concerning alleged irregularities in donations raise an important question as to how it can be ensured that the presently detected matter was the first, last and only such instance. I sought an independent reconciliation of donation records, counting sheets, bank deposit records, books of accounts and registers of valuable articles to determine whether the entire donation corpus is fully accounted for and whether any unexplained financial discrepancy exists beyond the matters presently under investigation. I requested the Trust to complete the exercise within 15 days and to publicly issue a brief “Donor Assurance Certificate” based on its findings, to protect the confidence of devotees and donors,” told Mr. Thakur, who leads the Azad Adhikar Sena, to The Hindu.
Copies of the letter have been sent to the Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India and the Chief Secretary of the Government of Uttar Pradesh for necessary action.
Eight accused individuals have been arrested in the alleged Ram temple donation embezzlement case and have been sent to judicial custody until July 27. The issue has led to an ongoing war of words across the country, with opposition parties seeking accountability from the BJP government.
Published – July 17, 2026 10:20 am IST
