A violent dispute has broken out over missing donations from the Ram temple in Ayodhya, with sources confirming that the UK Treasury is now tracking suspicious asset flows through London’s financial corridors. Internal documents seen by this desk reveal that at least £2.3 million in cash and jewellery, donated by devotees for the temple’s construction, has vanished from the trust’s vaults.
The temple trust, overseen by a board of directors with ties to both Indian political parties and a UK-based investment firm, is accused of failing to account for the shortfall. Insiders claim the theft was orchestrated by a senior trustee who has since left India for the United Arab Emirates. Scotland Yard’s economic crime unit has been alerted after HSBC flagged a series of transfers from a trust account to a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands.
The UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has issued a temporary freeze on all asset movements linked to the trust, pending an inquiry. The Ram temple, inaugurated in January 2024, has been a lightning rod for nationalist sentiment and corporate donations. But the pious gloss is wearing thin.
A whistleblower, a former accountant at the trust, has provided ledgers showing that between April and December 2024, donations from overseas Hindu communities were diverted to a separate account controlled by the missing trustee. The trustee, a businessman named Vijay Sharma, is known to have close links to a prominent Indian politician. The politician’s party has denied any involvement.
The theft has sparked street protests in Ayodhya, with saffron-clad monks demanding the arrest of Sharma and a full audit of the temple’s finances. But the trail of money leads to London. The UK Treasury’s intervention signals a broader concern about money laundering through religious institutions.
A Treasury spokesperson said: 'We are monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action to prevent illicit finance flows through the UK.’ This is not the first time the temple’s finances have been questioned. In 2023, a leaked report from the Enforcement Directorate in India revealed discrepancies in the trust’s balance sheet.
That report was shelved. Now, with the UK Treasury involved, the story has taken on an international dimension. The missing donations are a test of whether the temple’s custodians can be held accountable.
For now, the answer appears to be no. The vaults are empty, the trustee is abroad, and the political connections are shielding the truth. But the paper trail is growing.
And this reporter will keep following the money.
