Donation Theft At Siddhivinayak? Trustees Claim Rs 18 Crore Annual Loss, Seek Govt Inquiry
Donation Theft At Siddhivinayak? Trustees Claim Rs 18 Crore Annual Loss, Seek Govt Inquiry Published By, Last Updated: August 04, 2026, 08:18 IST The trustees
Donation Theft At Siddhivinayak? Trustees Claim Rs 18 Crore Annual Loss, Seek Govt Inquiry Published By, Last Updated: August 04, 2026, 08:18 IST The trustees sought a probe into involvement of senior officials, saying they had "strong reasons to believe" that the theft may not have been limited to lower-level employees. Siddhivinayak Temple revenue flows in from donation boxes, puja bookings, prasad sales, online giving, and gold and silver offerings. (File photo) Eight trustees of Mumbai’s iconic Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust have written to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde seeking a high-level government inquiry into the alleged theft of cash from the temple’s donation boxes, claiming the shrine may have suffered an annual loss of nearly Rs 18 crore. In the letter dated April 21, 2026, accessed by News18, the trustees alleged that weekly donations collected from the temple’s donation boxes surged sharply after employees accused of stealing cash were arrested, indicating that funds may have been siphoned off over an extended period. The trustees also sought an investigation into the possible involvement of senior administrative officials, saying they had “strong reasons to believe" that the alleged theft may not have been limited to lower-level employees.
What Temple’s Trustees Wrote In Letter According to the letter, the temple’s weekly collections from donation boxes were generally below Rs 50 lakh before the accused employees were caught. However, in the three weeks following their arrests, the amount collected every Wednesday rose to around Rs 1.5 crore. Also Read: Ram Temple Trust Appoints IIT Bombay Alumnus Jagdish Aphale As Secretary Amid Donation Theft Row “This clearly indicates that a substantial portion of the donations collected every week was being siphoned off before the money was counted. Based on these figures, we suspect that the temple may have suffered an annual loss of nearly Rs 18 crore," the trustees alleged. They further wrote, “We have strong reasons to believe that the links in this matter extend to senior levels, warranting a thorough investigation." Seeking government intervention, the trustees urged Shinde to order “a high-level government inquiry, including an investigation into the role of senior officials associated with the administration." The letter, signed by trustees Atul Lodhe, Bhaskar Raut, Mahesh Murliadhar, Jitendra Raut, Meena Kamble, Mangala Tupe, Gopal Dalvi and Sudarshan Sangale, said the board had helped increase the temple’s revenue by nearly 25% over the past one-and-a-half years through various administrative measures.
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