New Delhi: Ayodhya’s Ram Temple Trust is embroiled in allegations of donation theft, with an FIR now being registered over the alleged misappropriation of donations to Ram Mandir.
Last week, a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted its preliminary report to the Uttar Pradesh government.
According to UP police, the FIR in the case names eight individuals who have been accused under Section 306 (includes theft by clerk or servant, or by a person employed in a position of trust), Section 316 (criminal breach of trust), Section 317 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, merchant, agent, etc.), and Section 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was set up by the Government of India to construct the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of the trust in the Lok Sabha in February 2020.
As per the website of the trust, the trust is supposed to have 15 members, of which 12 were nominated by the government and three members were selected during the first meeting of the trust. Currently, the website names 14 members as a part of the trust.
ThePrint profiles the members of this trust.
K. Parasaran: The founder-trustee member is senior advocate K. Parasaran, who is listed as the “senior-most advocate of the Supreme Court”. At 92 (he was 92 then or now?), Parasaran had appeared before the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court to represent the infant deity ‘Ram Lalla Virajman’ in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid land dispute case.
Krishna Mohan: A native of Hardoi district in UP, Krishna Mohan is a retired Indian Forest Service officer of the Maharashtra cadre. He became associated with the RSS during his posting in Nagpur, and was involved in social work since his retirement in 2012. He was inducted into the trust in September 2025, following the death of trustee Kameshwar Chaupal.
Nripendra Mishra: A former IAS officer, he is the chairman of the Temple Construction Committee. The 1967 batch IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh served as principal secretary to PM Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019. He was the principal secretary to Mulayam Singh Yadav when he was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, and has also been the chief of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2021. He is an ex-officio member of the trust.
Shashank Tripathi: A 2016 batch IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh, Tripathi has studied at IIT Kanpur. He is currently the district magistrate and collector in Ayodhya, and was the DM and collector in Barabanki from January last year to April this year. He has also served as special secretary to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2022 to 2025.
Sanjay Prasad: A 1995 batch IAS officer from Bihar, Prasad is currently serving as additional chief secretary to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. He is a representative of the UP government in the trust and is an ex-officio member.
Prashant Lokhande: A 2001 batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, Lokhande is the new chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), appointed earlier this year. Before this, Lokhande was serving as additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He is a representative of the central government on the trust and is an ex-officio member.
Champat Rai: A chemistry professor at ASM Degree College in Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh, Rai was actively involved with the Ram temple movement as well as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the early days of the movement. He resigned from academics after spending one and half years in various jails during the Ram Temple agitation, and went on to dedicate his time to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). He climbed the ranks in the VHP over the years, and was entrusted with overseeing the construction of the Ram Temple when the trust was formed in 2020. He is VHP vice-president.
Anil Mishra: A homeopathic doctor by profession, Mishra worked as a homeopathic medical officer in Sultanpur and Gonda districts, before retiring in 2019. He has had a long association with the RSS as well, and is a senior members of the trust.
Swami Nritya Gopal Das: He is the President of the Shri Ram Janam Bhoomi Nyas and Shri Krishna Janam Bhoomi Nyas. He is also the spiritual authority of Ayodhya’s largest temple, Shri Mani Ram Das Ki Chhawani (Chhoti Chhawani), being the 6th Pithadhishwar of Shri Mani Ram Das Chhawani. Born at Brij Bhumi in 1938, he made his way to Ayodhya in 1953.
Yugpurush Parmanand Giri: Born in the late 30s (? how old is he?), he is a spiritual leader, recognised as a ‘Karma Yogi’ as well as ‘Gyani Yogi’. He has been recognised as the ‘Yug Purush’, a world Guru of the present Yug (era). He addressed the World Millennium Peace Summit of Spiritual leaders in 2000 at the United Nations, and has written over 150 books.
Govind Dev Giri: Formerly known as Acharya Kishoreji Madangopal Vyas, he was born in 1949, in a village in Maharashtra. After completing his primary education and earning his bachelor’s degree in philosophy, he traveled to Varanasi for deeper study of Vedas, Upanishads and other scriptures of ancient India. He came to be known as Govind Dev Giri Maharaj, after he was initiated into ‘Paramhansa Sanyas’ (renouncement of the highest spiritual order), by Swami Satyamitranand Giri in Haridwar in 2006.
Prior to the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir, Swami Govind Dev Giri facilitated the breaking of PM Modi’s 11-day fast. The seer provided him with the Charanamrit (blessed liquid) to break his fast.
Dinendra Das: He represents the Nirmohi Akhada of Ayodhya, which was one of the litigants in the Ram temple case. He was preceded by Mahant Bhaskar Das, who passed away in 2017.
Vasudevanand Saraswati: He is the Shankaracharya of the jyotish peeth in Badrinath. His earlier name was Somnath Dwivedi and he was the head of Vedanta Vibhag in Sri Jyotish Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya at Allahabad. His installation as a ‘Shankaracharya’ was the issue of a long litigation, with Shankarcharya Jyotish Peeth Peethadeshwar Sri Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati opposing his designation as a ‘Shankaracharya’.
The Allahabad high court had, in 2017, ruled that Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati’s installation as Shankaracharya was illegal, invalid and did not allow him to hold or function as Sankaracharya. However, appeals against this judgment are currently pending in the Supreme Court.
Swami Vishwaprashannateerth: Born in 1964, he is a graduate from Poorna Prajna Evening College, Udupi. He is the current pontiff of the Sri Pejavara Adhokshaja Matha, one of the eight Ashta Mathas of Udupi, Karnataka. The official website of Sri Pejavara Adhokshaja Matha Udupi says that Sri Sri Vishwaprasanna Tirtha Swamiji of Udupi has been leading the pooja karyakrama at Ayodhya especially on 22 Jan 2024.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Ram temple donation theft case: Claims against Champat Rai will also be probed—VHP chief Alok Kumar