Lucknow: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged embezzlement of donations from the Ram Temple is set to reconstruct the donation management process end to end, mapping every step from the point devotees make offerings to the final deposit of funds into authorised accounts, in what officials described as the next decisive phase of the investigation.The move comes a day after Trust member Anil Mishra and administrative official Gopal Rao were questioned for nearly 10 hours, during which investigators sought detailed explanations of the temple’s donation-handling system, including operating procedures, staff deployment, oversight mechanisms and financial controls.Sources said the SIT is now planning a ground-level verification to test whether the procedures outlined during questioning match the actual practices followed at the temple.Investigators are expected to physically recreate the complete chain of events involved in receiving, securing, counting, documenting and depositing offerings. The reconstruction will cover how cash and valuables are collected from devotees, how donation boxes are handled and transported, the protocol for opening them, the counting process and segregation of cash and valuables, preparation of collection records, storage arrangements, security provisions and the final transfer and banking of funds.A key focus of the exercise will be to establish an unbroken chain of custody for donations and to identify precisely who had access at each stage.Officials said they would examine the points at which multiple hands handle offerings, the number of personnel involved during transport and counting, and the degree of supervision in place. The SIT is also expected to check whether standard operating procedures existed in written form, whether they were consistently followed and if checks and balances were sufficient to prevent diversion.Sources indicated that the reconstruction is aimed at identifying procedural lapses and assigning individual responsibilities, including potential failures in monitoring and auditing. Investigators suspect the alleged embezzlement may not have been an isolated incident but could have involved exploitation of gaps over time. By recreating the process, the SIT hopes to pinpoint where accountability weakened and whether safeguards were bypassed, ignored or manipulated.The SIT has already carried out two rounds of questioning of Mishra and Rao, focusing on the temple’s financial protocols, administrative hierarchy, recruitment and appointment of staff linked to donation handling, deployment patterns during counting, maintenance of records and documentation related to the management of offerings. Officials also examined records related to the personnel involved in counting, their reporting structure and their access to donation boxes, along with internal monitoring arrangements.On Friday, the SIT visited the temple and inspected areas linked to the donation process, sources said. Investigators are expected to use the reconstruction findings to corroborate statements of the accused and witnesses, verify documentary trails and match the sequence of events against digital and forensic evidence collected during the probe. Officials believe the exercise will clarify whether the alleged diversion was enabled by negligence, deliberate manipulation of procedures or a wider conspiracy involving multiple actors.
