The executive committee of the Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust will meet in Ayodhya on Monday at 3 pm to take a decision on the resignation of two senior members and persistent allegations of irregularities in temple donations even as there is uncertainty over how many members will attend.
The meeting venue has been shifted to Ram Mandir from Mani Ram Chavni campus in Ayodhya, said Gopal Rao, Trust Officer. Swami Govind Dev Giri, Treasurer of the Trust, is expected to submit the resignation of General Secretary Champat Rai and Trustee Anil Mishra before the Executive Committee. Both Rai and Mishra are expected to present their views at the meeting, according to people familiar with the matter. They added that it is possible to appoint a CEO for the professional management of the Ram temple.
Trust member Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati on Sunday stressed the need for professional management of the body. “If such an incident happens, it is condemnable,” he said in response to a question about the ongoing investigation by the three-member Special Investigation Team of the Uttar Pradesh government. He added: “Such a crime cannot be accepted.”
When Swami Vasudevanand, who uses the surname Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth, was asked about the reconstitution of the fund, he said: “The fund has been formed on the orders of the Supreme Court. There is no need for any change in the fund. But we need to ensure professional management of the fund. It is necessary so that such controversies do not happen again.”
These are the first comments of the guardian, who defended Al-Rai and said that all the accusations against him are baseless. Another member of the trust, Mahant Dinendra Das of Nirmohi Akhara, also condemned the allegations.
The eight men arrested so far include Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar “Tino” Yadav, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra and Karunesh Pandey. Anukalp Mishra and Luvkush Mishra are linked to each other, as well as to trust member Anil Mishra, who resigned last week along with trust general secretary Champat Rai. Ram Shankar Yadav – Rai’s assistant – and Manish Yadav are linked.
Last week, the police made an arrest $79,85,493 of the eight men arrested recovered money from pigeons, haystacks and cow dung cakes.
In the first meeting since the allegations surfaced, the resignations of Rai and Mishra, the ongoing probe into SIT and the management of Ram Mandir were three of the top agenda items for the meeting. The audit report and financial statement 2025-2026 is the fourth point on the agenda. The fifth point says that other issues can also be discussed with the approval of Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Chairman of the Fund.
But it is unclear how many members will arrive at the meeting.
When the Fund was formed on 5 February 2020, it had 15 members – four ex-officio and 11 others. Of the 11, Kameshwar Chaupal and Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra died in February and August 2025 respectively. Krishna Mohan, a retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed in place of Kameshwar Chaupal in September 2025. Mishra’s place remains vacant.
Four others are suffering from the disease, including Chief Justice Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, 89, Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, 90, Swami Paramanand, 90, and Supreme Court senior advocate Keshav Parasaran, 92. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das has returned to Ayodhya after undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lucknow, and is expected to chair Monday’s meeting. Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati also arrived in Ayodhya for deliberations.
Under the Deed of Confidence, a two-thirds majority must be obtained to approve resignations.
Read also: Six of the eight detained over Ram temple donation violations were employed by the Varanasi security firm
Meanwhile, the BJP national president accused the opposition of trying to gain political mileage from an issue linked to the faith of millions of Hindus. “Even if we have to shed our blood, we will ensure that no one tampers with the faith associated with the Lord Ram temple… But as far as these anti-Hindu forces are concerned, if they are trying to score political points today. Let me say this clearly to Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal: Do not belittle Hinduism by thinking that we will fall for your tricks or fool you with your deceit,” Nabin said.
“The institutional presence of government cannot be ignored.”
Rajya Sabha MP John Prithas said on Sunday that the government’s continued institutional presence in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust “cannot be ignored”, a day after he wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking a review of the Centre’s stand that the Trust falls outside the purview of the RTI Act, 2005. “Transparency cannot become a casualty just because the government has chosen to describe the Trust as ‘independent,'” Prithas said, adding that compliance with the Supreme Court ruling does not erase the legal nature of the government’s notification.
