Who is Anukalp Mishra? Ram Mandir donation theft probe puts cash handler's lifestyle under scanner

The Supreme Court on 29 June refused to grant an urgent hearing to a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation-led multi-agency probe into the alleged embezzlement of donation funds for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

The top court observed that ‘heavens are not going to fall’ if the matter is heard after the court resumes regular functioning following the summer break.

The observation comes amid a political slugfest over the theft of donations in Uttar Pradesh.

The investigation so far has brought attention to Anukalp Mishra, one of the eight people arrested after an FIR was registered in case. Anukalp Mishra was among the staff responsible for counting and managing cash donations received at the temple. He is alleged to have played a key role in the suspected fraud uncovered by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Who is Anukalp Mishra?

Anukalp Mishra is a resident of Basawa village in Ayodhya's Milkipur area. He was involved in counting and managing donations collected at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. He worked alongside his brother-in-law, Lavkush Mishra, who has also been arrested in the case. Lavkush is said to be related to Trust member Anil Mishra, who has quit. Both were part of the team responsible for handling and counting cash offerings made by devotees at the Ram Temple, according to multiple media reports.

Anukalp Mishra was arrested after an FIR was lodged at the Ram Janmabhoomi Police Station against eight named accused and several unidentified individuals following the findings of the SIT probe. Other than Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra, the arrested include Avinash Shukla, Manish Yadav, Tinnu Yadav, retired bank employee and counting supervisor Subhash Chandra Srivastava, Karunesh Pandey and another accused allegedly involved in handling temple donations.

Most of those named in the FIR were directly involved in managing the temple donations.

Locals in Anukalp’s village in Ayodhya told NDTV that he had recently built a farmhouse on the village's outskirts. He had bought a house in Ayodhya last year, now valued at about ₹65 lakh, asp er NDTV report.

Anukalp’s neighbours said that while he already owned a vehicle, he was in the process of booking a Mahindra Scorpio.

Anukalp, who worked in a bank's outsourcing team, joined the temple's donation counting team about three years ago. He later got his brother-in-law, Lavkush Mishra, deployed in the same team through the bank's outsourcing agency.

How did they steal donation money?

The counting staff allegedly inserted extra currency notes into cash bundles before preparing donation vouchers, as per media reports. At the bank, officials counted only the number of bundles rather than verifying the number of notes in each bundle before issuing deposit vouchers, according to a report in News 18.

During the transfer of cash from the temple to the bank, the additional notes were secretly removed from the bundles, allowing the deposit vouchers to match the recorded amount while a portion of the donation money was allegedly diverted. Anukalp Mishra was involved in preparing the donation vouchers and allegedly carried out the fraud with the assistance of his brother-in-law, Lavkush Mishra, the News18 report said.

Yogi vs Akhilesh Political slugfest

Amid the political blame game over the row, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath challenged SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to publicly back a movement for the Krishna Janmabhoomi. Yadav accused the ruling party of moving from a "nation first" approach to a "donation first" one.

The row over donations at the Ayodhya Ram Temple first surfaced on June 7 when SP leader Tej Narayan 'Pawan' Pandey alleged that between ₹5 crore and ₹7.5 crore from temple offerings had been siphoned off.

Yadav on Sunday accused the ruling party of reducing Uttar Pradesh to a "paper leak government" and said it was working on a "4C formula" consisting of “chanda (donations), chori (theft), chaturai (cunning) and chalaki (deceit)”, as HT reported earlier.

The UP CM challenged Yadav to openly support a movement for the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, similar to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, while criticising his comments on Ayodhya.

"Akhileshji, Ayodhya has already been transformed by Lord Ram's devotees. Don't worry about it. Repent, visit Ram Lalla once, at least, that will bring you some wisdom. Now, prepare so that we can also do something for Lord Krishna," the chief minister said on Hathras.

(With agency inputs)