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Supreme Court Bars SIT Challenge in Ram Temple Theft Case

By Drooid · Sep 21, 2026, 4:07 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Supreme Court Rejects SIT

Justice Surya Kant of Supreme Court received a SIT report finding 105 donation thefts at the Ram Temple.
Eight temple employees, including Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra, were arrested on June 26 and INR79,85,493 was seized.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said charge sheet will be filed by September 25, 2026.
The Supreme Court refused a petition for the SIT report, keeping the case within the Sessions Court.

Summary

Court Orders Diary

The SIT report says donation receipts are generated by specialized software and kept in State Bank of India lockers.
All eight accused are former bank employees or temple staff who counted cash offerings.
Defense lawyer Subhash Srivastava alleges his client was falsely implicated and that others also counted the cash.
The anti-corruption court ordered police to produce the case diary at the September 21 hearing.

History

Historical Context

In 1995 the Supreme Court of India ordered a CBI-led probe of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams after it uncovered about INR1.5 crore misappropriated donations, with auditors later seizing roughly INR80 lakh from State Bank of India lockers. The court’s current examination of the Ram Temple’s donation accounts—seizing INR79.85 lakh and questioning eight former bank officials—mirrors that earlier TTD case and has revived calls for tighter audit legislation.

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Supreme Court Rejects SIT

Justice Surya Kant of Supreme Court received a SIT report finding 105 donation thefts at the Ram Temple.
Eight temple employees, including Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra, were arrested on June 26 and INR79,85,493 was seized.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said charge sheet will be filed by September 25, 2026.
The Supreme Court refused a petition for the SIT report, keeping the case within the Sessions Court.

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