While asking for the status report, the Supreme Court says the status report would detail the composition of the SIT. The report would be in sealed cover, the CJI-led bench says, adding that the contents need not be shared with petitioners as the investigation is going on. 

State, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, has agreed to place the status report on Monday (July 20, 2026).

- Krishnadas Rajagopal

The Supreme Court issued notice in petitions in the Ram temple donations’ embezzlement case. It issued notice to the Ramjanbhoomi Trust, and also asked the SIT constituted by the State of Uttar Pradesh for a status report.

- Krishnadas Rajagopal

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) launched a nationwide signature campaign on Sunday (July 12, 2026) demanding strict punishment for those involved in chanda chori (theft of offerings) from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal addressed people at a Sundarkand recitation in Japanese Park in Rohini Sector 10, which he called a gathering of Ram bhakts. He said that he was signing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with devotees present at the event to demand justice.

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The arrest of eight people in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donation money at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is an event with repercussions both within the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-led Sangh Parivar and outside it, especially with the Assembly election due in Uttar Pradesh early next year.

The most obvious repercussion for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh Parivar is, of course, the loss of a moral high ground.

Nistula Hebbar writes in this news analysis...

The Ram Temple embezzlement case raises serious allegations of misappropriation of cash and valuables donated by devotees as an “expression of piety” to a Hindu deity, uniquely considered a ‘juristic person’ who is a minor in law.

Series of judicial decisions, right from the days of the Privy Council to Supreme Court’s judgments in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Ramjanmabhoomi Temple cases, hold the deity as a legal entity capable of holding property.

As the Supreme Court moves to hear pleas calling for a CBI investigation into the embezzlement, read more on legal complexities surrounding deity property ownership and misappropriation of donations from devotees.

The alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has emerged as an unexpected hurdle in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) flagship campaign to free Hindu temples from government control.

During a media interaction in the past, the VHP’s organising general secretary Milind Parande had said that between 20,000 and 50,000 temples are under government control in 11 States alone. Describing this as a “threat to Hindu society”, the VHP launched a nationwide campaign in 2021 to free Hindu temples and religious institutions from government control. The organisation argued that offerings made by devotees should be used exclusively for religious and charitable purposes.

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Amid the uproar over alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in the second week of June, the Uttar Pradesh government appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The team — comprising Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Inspector-General (Lucknow Range) S. Kiran and Special Secretary in the Finance Department Neelratan Kumar — submitted its preliminary report to the State government on June 23, uncovering prima facie evidence of theft and pilferage during counting of donations at the temple. Based on the SIT’s findings, the Trust filed a petition for the registration of a first information report (FIR).

Click below to read more about what the SIT report states:

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is scheduled to hear separate petitions seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and protection of electronic evidence in the Ram Temple donations’ embezzlement case on Monday (July 13, 2026) when the Supreme Court re-opens after summer vacation.

A petition filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Sudhakar Singh to provide and publish complete financial details of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, including foreign contributions, is listed along with two other petitions on Monday.

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