Ayodhya court denies bail in Ram temple

A special court in Ayodhya has rejected bail applications for three men accused of stealing donations from the city's Ram temple. The Anti-Corruption Court's Special Judge Rajat Verma delivered the ruling on Monday, September 21, 2026.

Defence lawyer Kul Shekhar Singh, who represents the accused, confirmed the decision to the Press Trust of India. The three men-Avinash Shukla, Manish Kumar Yadav, and Ram Shankar Mishra-are among eight individuals arrested in the case. Their judicial custody was extended until September 21 just days before the bail hearing.

Defence challenges charges

The defence team argued that key charges should not apply to their clients. They contended that provisions related to corruption and criminal breach of trust by a public servant were wrongly invoked, as the accused are not government employees.

"The defence argued that if these two provisions... Were removed, the remaining offences carried a maximum punishment of seven years," Singh stated. He said the defence claimed the accused could then be granted bail due to an absence of special circumstances requiring their continued detention.

Bail hearings continue

The court's schedule for the remaining accused is now set. Bail applications for three other defendants will be heard on Tuesday, September 22. The final two applications are scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday, September 23.

All eight accused were arrested after a First Information Report was lodged on June 25, 2026. The case stems from an alleged scheme to embezzle cash and valuables offered by devotees at the Ram temple. A state government-constituted Special Investigation Team produced a preliminary report that led to the arrests.

The accused and the investigation

Most of the individuals facing charges were bank employees tasked with counting the temple's cash donations. Subhash Srivastava, another accused, was in charge of the donation-counting process. The eighth accused, Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav, worked as a driver and was a close associate of former Shri Ram Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai.

The full list of the eight accused is as follows:

Prosecutors say investigators have recovered ₹79.85 lakh so far. The court had previously directed police to produce the case diary and investigation report, as bail hearings were repeatedly deferred when the investigating officer failed to submit the necessary documents. The accused remain in jail.