Questions are being raised over how cash and valuables donated at the Ayodhya Ram Temple have been handled, after an article by S. S. Anil, All India President of the Bank Employees Federation of India, alleged irregularities involving donation counting, outsourcing arrangements, and the conduct of certain bank and trust officials. It's worth stating upfront: these are allegations raised in the article, not findings that have been independently confirmed.
How Donations Were Supposed to Be Handled
The State Bank of India serves as the official banker for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, and under that arrangement, SBI was responsible for ensuring that offerings collected at the temple were counted and deposited into the trust's SBI accounts at the Ayodhya branch.
According to the article, that changed after SBI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the temple trust: responsibility for counting cash donations was effectively outsourced to the trust itself, which then used its own employees for the task rather than permanent bank staff. The article argues this weakened accountability, since the people actually handling large volumes of donated cash and valuables weren't bound by the same oversight structures that apply to bank employees.
It further alleges that many of those workers were appointed on the recommendation of trustee Anil Mishra, who is described as having supervised counting and safekeeping of donations, and claims Mishra was involved in the appointment of 125 people as trust employees, including several relatives, with commissions allegedly accepted from some non-relative appointees. Again, these are claims made in the article and haven't been independently verified in what's been reported.
An SBI Official Under the Spotlight
The article also focuses on SBI Chief Manager Adikhya Raghuram Sagar, who was posted to Ayodhya in 2021, later transferred to Badaun, and then returned to Ayodhya in April 2024. He reportedly served at SBI's Regional Business Office, handling coordination between the bank and the temple trust, alongside responsibilities in the bank's digital banking division.
According to the article, Sagar frequently spent time at the trust office and helped arrange facilities for visiting SBI and RBI officials and their families, including VIP passes for temple visits. It also notes that he had been living with his family in a house owned by Anil Mishra for several years, a detail the article presents as part of the broader circumstances now under examination.
The Bigger Picture: A UP SIT Investigation
A Special Investigation Team formed by the Uttar Pradesh government reportedly questioned Mishra over allegations involving missing temple funds and valuables, though the article notes that Mishra's name did not appear in the FIR connected to the incident.
Why This Matters Beyond One Temple
Beyond the specific allegations, the article uses the Ayodhya case to make a broader argument about outsourcing in public sector banking, contending that cash handling is a core banking function that should stay with permanent employees rather than outsourced personnel. It frames the controversy as a case study in what can go wrong when responsibilities involving large sums of public money and valuables are shifted outside a bank's own accountable workforce.
Cases like this ultimately underline why strong internal controls, and genuinely independent auditing services in India, matter so much wherever large volumes of cash or valuables change hands, whether at a religious trust, a bank, or any institution handling public funds. Without a clear, permanent chain of accountability, gaps in cash-handling processes can go unnoticed for far longer than they should.
FAQs
Q1. What is the core allegation in this case?
The article alleges that donation-counting responsibilities at the Ayodhya Ram Temple were outsourced from SBI to the trust's own staff, weakening accountability, and that a trustee influenced staff appointments and possibly accepted commissions.
Q2. Has any wrongdoing been proven?
No. These are allegations raised in the article and have not been independently confirmed; a UP government SIT has reportedly questioned trustee Anil Mishra, but his name doesn't appear in the related FIR.
Q3. What role did SBI play in the temple's donation handling?
SBI is the official banker for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and was originally responsible for counting and depositing temple offerings before this responsibility was reportedly outsourced.
Q4. Who is Adikhya Raghuram Sagar, and why is he mentioned?
He is an SBI Chief Manager who coordinated between the bank and the temple trust; the article raises questions about his close association with trustee Anil Mishra, including living in a house owned by him.