The Supreme Court on Monday (November 2, 2026) closed multiple pleas seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Ram Temple donations’ embezzlement case after the State of Uttar Pradesh informed it that a charge sheet has already been filed by its Special Investigation Team (SIT).
In the previous hearing, the Uttar Pradesh government’s SIT report had said 1 05 instances of unauthorised currency removal were captured on CCTV in the temple donations’ misappropriation case. Mehta, on November 2, said initial investigations could only grab 48 hours of CCTV footage. The statements of 173 witnesses were recorded by the SIT.
In its order, the apex court allowed petitioners, which include Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust, Ajay Kumar Rai, Narendra Kumar Goswami and Sudhakar Singh, among others, to assist the trial court in further proceedings. The petitioners wanted the apex court to constitute or direct constitution of an expert committee comprising representatives of the Union and State authorities, audit/accounting experts, digital-payment/cyber-forensic experts and temple-administration experts to frame a ‘National Minimum Temple Donation Transparency Framework’ for public temples and religious endowments of national importance and temples receiving substantial annual donations, including but not limited to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, Ayodhya and Shri Krishna Janmasthan at Mathura. Mr. However, the probe team had traced back to find out how and where the purloined money was used.
“Courts have allowed victims of crimes to assist, similarly you also assist the court… If there is an element of public interest involved, law enables victims to assist the court,” Chief Justice Kant told the petitioners. Relevant Standard Operating Procedures and records relating to the counting and handling of donations, security arrangements, CCTV recordings and reconciliation records had been examined to the extent relevant to the present investigation, according to the status report.
