A trust that runs India’s grand Ram temple has overhauled its leadership after people involved in counting donations were accused of stealing millions of rupees in offerings. The construction of the temple dedicated to the Hindu god-king Lord Ram on the site of a demolished mosque fulfilled one of the biggest promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Donation Theft Scandal

The alleged theft at the temple has provided the opposition with ammunition ahead of an election due early next year in bellwether Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, where the temple is located in the city of Ayodhya. The temple site was bitterly contested for decades, sparking nationwide riots in 1992 that killed 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, police say, after a Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century mosque there.

Trustees of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, set up by Modi’s government to build the temple, met on Monday and said they accepted the resignation of General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra. They appointed an interim secretary and a committee to identify candidates for a newly created position of chief executive.

The trust did not say how much money had been stolen, but authorities said following the arrest of eight people last month that nearly 8 million rupees ($83,967) had been recovered from seven of them. Until March 31, the temple had received 5.82 billion rupees ($61 million) in offerings.

Opposition parties have asked for the trust to be dissolved and Modi to speak up on the issue. The prime minister, whose party has ruled Uttar Pradesh since 2017 but did poorly there in the national election in 2024, is on a tour of Indonesia from where he will fly to Australia and New Zealand.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.