Inside The Money Room: As SIT Probes 'Fund Theft', Here's How Ram Mandir Tracks Every Rupee Donated

Published 20 June 2026 · india

Inside The Money Room: As SIT Probes 'Fund Theft', Here's How Ram Mandir Tracks Every Rupee Donated Written By, Last Updated: June 20, 2026, 17:06

Inside The Money Room: As SIT Probes 'Fund Theft', Here's How Ram Mandir Tracks Every Rupee Donated Written By, Last Updated: June 20, 2026, 17:06 IST The physical journey begins at one of the 35 heavy steel donation boxes, or hundis, strategically positioned across the Ayodhya temple complex The Ram Mandir donation theft case pertains to allegations that gold, silver and diamond ornaments donated by devotees to the Ram Temple had been replaced with fake items, besides money being stolen. File pic/ANI As a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probes allegations of fund misappropriation at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, public attention has shifted to the complex logistics of the temple’s daily financial administration. Managing the immense inflows of cash, gold, and silver generated by over one lakh daily devotees requires an intricate, continuous operation. Behind the public areas of worship lies a highly secure, multi-layered counting ecosystem designed to track every single coin and note from the moment it leaves a devotee’s hand. The physical journey begins at one of the 35 heavy steel donation boxes, or hundis, strategically positioned across the temple complex.

These boxes remain under constant closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance and are locked with a dual-key system, meaning no single official can open them independently. When a box nears capacity, it is unsealed under the direct supervision of a designated temple trust official and a bank representative before the contents are transferred into secure, tamper-evident bags for transport to the central counting room. The Two-Shift Counting Machinery Inside the high-security counting room, the process transitions into a rigorous, two-shift operation running from early morning until late at night. To handle the sheer volume of paper currency, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust employs a specialised workforce comprising nearly 40 professional cash tellers, bank officials from nationalised institutions like the State Bank of India, and independent auditors. The first shift meticulously sorts the raw cash by denomination, flattening crumpled notes and separating damaged currency. During the second shift, the sorted currency is fed into high-speed counting and fake-note detection machines. Every desk in the room is positioned under high-definition cameras that record the hands of the tellers at all times.

Simultaneously, a separate team of government-approved appraisers processes non-currency offerings, such as gold ornaments, silver coins, and precious stones, weighing and logging them into a separate repository ledger before they are moved to the temple’s underground vaults. Final Reconciliation and the Digital Ledger Once the physical counting concludes for the day, the financial data undergoes a strict reconciliation process. The total physical cash counted must perfectly match the aggregate logs generated by the automated counting machines. Representatives from the outsourced financial management agencies and the temple trust then co-sign the daily summary sheets. The verified cash is subsequently packed into secure containers and transported under armed escort to the local bank branch, where it is formally deposited into the temple trust’s official accounts. Only after the bank issues a digital receipt is the amount permanently entered into the temple’s centralised accounting books. This extensive verification chain underscores the structural vulnerability being scrutinised by the SIT, as investigators examine exactly where human oversight may have failed within an otherwise heavily fortified financial pipeline.