The trust that manages the Ram temple in Ayodhya has undertaken an audit of its collections since 2024, following allegations that crores of rupees from donations offered at the shrine had gone missing.

Sources told The Telegraph that the audit team, which includes members of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and some officials of the State Bank of India where the trust has its account, has found a discrepancy between the collections and the current ledger balance.

“The team interrogated four members of the temple in police presence and also recovered some cash from one of them,” the source said.

However, Champat Rai, general secretary of the trust, denied the allegation. “We do regular audits of the fund. There is nothing unusual in it. We have not found any irregularity or embezzlement,” he said.

AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh posted on X: “After scams involving donations and land fraud in the name of Lord Shri Ram, now a major theft of nearly ₹7 crore from offerings in donation boxes has also come to light. The BJP, which has been eating up money for coal, gas, electricity, schools, hospitals and mid-day meals, is now not even sparing God’s offerings.”

He claimed ₹5 lakh had been seized from a member of the temple.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said it was “an utterly shameful situation” for the temple trust and “no one is coming forward to offer any explanation”.

State BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary said the matter concerned the temple trust and that it was doing its job.

According to trust sources, they receive at least ₹5 lakh in donations every day, which goes up to ₹13 lakh during festivals.

Trust member Mahant Dinendra Nath said: “There is no irregularity in our temple fund. The members of the trust do their jobs honestly.”