BBC:
Two-and-a-half years after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand temple to Hindu god Ram, the shrine is embroiled in an unsavoury row over allegations that donations from devotees worth tens of millions of rupees have been embezzled.
The temple in the once-flashpoint city of Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh replaced a 16th-Century mosque torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.
Since its inauguration in January 2024, the three-storey temple spread over 2.7 acres has become one of India’s most important pilgrimage centres, attracting an estimated 50 million visitors annually.
But in recent weeks, questions over the handling of cash, valuable jewellery, gold and silver offered by devotees have triggered a political controversy and petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation by the federal police.
The state government has set up a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the allegations. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust – an independent trust which manages the shrine – has denied any wrongdoing.
The complex, which also includes six smaller temples, draws 70,000 to 80,000 devotees daily, with crowds tripling on weekends and festivals. Most leave offerings in about 35 donation boxes around the site.
The trust – which collects, sorts and counts the offerings – recorded an annual income of 3.27bn rupees ($35m; £26m) in the financial year 2024-25, making it one of India’s largest temples in terms of earnings, the Hindustan Times reported.
A former city legislator has alleged more than 70m rupees ($739,550; £560,420) have gone missing.
The temple trust rejected claims that donations or offerings were improperly handled.
In a video statement on Facebook, its general secretary Champat Rai said the trust’s activities, including the process used to count donations and even the counting room, were routinely audited by their trustees and workers along with some State Bank of India employees.
“This work continues for several days. This is what is happening nowadays. No-one has noticed any discrepancy yet,” he added.
The allegations of embezzlement at what is considered one of India’s most consequential religious sites has made headlines in India. The temple stands on a site that has been at the centre of one of India’s most consequential religious, political and legal disputes for decades.
Many Hindus believe Ayodhya to be the birthplace of deity Ram. A vigorous nation-wide campaign spearheaded by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reclaim the land led to the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu activists in 1992.
After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court in 2019 awarded the disputed land for the construction of a temple and ordered that alternative land be provided for a mosque.
The dispute shaped Indian politics for decades and became closely associated with the rise of the BJP in the 1990s in a country where 80% of the population is Hindu.
The construction of the temple was one of the main election promises of the BJP and its opening in January 2024 is believed to have contributed to Modi’s win in the general election held a few months later.
So even though the temple is managed by an independent trust, opposition parties are demanding answers from Modi and his BJP – which is also in power in the state.
