ayodhya, July 8 -- Recently deposed Ram Temple trust general secretary Champat Rai disowned a 2025 document detailing guidelines for the cash counting process and said he never saw the agreement bearing the signatures of former trust member Anil Mishra and then manager of the State Bank of India's (SBI) local branch, HT has learnt. In his one-page Hindi submission before the special investigation team (SIT), accessed by HT, Rai said he personally signed every page of a February 9, 2024 agreement with SBI, according to which security measures such as CCTV cameras and an iron-barred door at the counting room entrance were installed. But he added that he had no knowledge of another agreement dated February 6, 2025 bearing the signatures of former trustee Anil Mishra and Govind Mishra, the manager of SBI's Naya Ghat branch, where the trust had an account. "I absolutely do not agree with this letter. I reject it," Rai said in the submission, dated July 6. Rai alleged that although this 2025 agreement - referred to in the submission as "joint guidelines determined for the counting process" - said a copy was sent to the general secretary, he came to know about it only on June 13, 2026, from the accounts office. All documents related to counting were provided by the accounts office, but his signature was not on them, he said. "On all agreements made from August 2020 to June 2026, there are only signatures of myself and the chief official of the respective second party. Why were my signatures not obtained on this guideline letter? If I was not in Ayodhya, then they should have waited," he stated. Anil Mishra has not made any public statement since the controversy broke. In the submission, Rai also blamed SBI, alleging that security rules set by the bank were flouted but never flagged. The former general secretary said all banks in the country have strict chest room protocols - frisking at entry and exit, and uniforms without pockets. "The bank did not enforce this, and despite being written in guideline letter, it was not implemented. The clothes initially provided by bank had pockets," he noted. "The bank ignored its own chest room rules". Rai questioned how such leniency occurred. "Senior officials of the bank will explain how the leniency in following the chest room rules occurred. In my opinion, the rules operating in banks were completely ignored. Perhaps even the senior officials of the bank had no knowledge of this guideline letter, otherwise, the mistake would have been caught at some level." Rai also alleged that the rules were flouted with impunity. "The bank selected youth for counting and kept them as housekeeping staff, is this proper? For this reason, I believe that the senior officials of the bank perhaps do not know anything," he said in the submission, signed by him. There was no immediate response from SBI. The developments came a day after the Ram Temple trust accepted the resignations of Rai as general secretary and Anil Mishra as member, removed administrator Gopal Rao, and announced a three-member panel to appoint a new chief executive officer as it sought to restore its image following swirling allegations of theft in donations. At a meeting of the trust at the Ram Mandir complex in Ayodhya, the body also hit out at detractors, said all 2,926 items of offering received from devotees were recorded in a register with full details, and appointed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member and trustee Krishna Mohan - who had filed the first information report in case - as interim general secretary. This was the biggest fallout so far of the allegations of irregularities in donations to the Ram Temple that surfaced last month and have had deep religious and political ramifications, especially in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are expected early next year. Rai, who has not made a public statement since the controversy surfaced last month, broke his silence on Tuesday with an open letter, expressing grief over the allegations of irregularities in donation collections. "Since June 7, 2026, various types of discussions/rumors have been circulating regarding the theft committed during the counting of the donation box at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple premises. Personally many people have levelled baseless allegations against me. I have maintained silence. In the temple trust meeting held on July 6, the preliminary report of the SIT (Special Investigation Team) was presented. This report has now become public, even though it was 'top secret'. I assure you all that once the final report of the SIT is released, I will give my point-by-point reply in proper sequence to all the points being spread. The complete truth will come to light," he said. The controversy first surfaced on June 7 when Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan 'Pawan' Pandey alleged that donations worth Rs.5 crore to Rs.7.5 crore were siphoned off from temple offerings. On June 13, the state government set up an SIT. According to investigators, the probe prima facie revealed a systematic diversion of cash during the collection and counting process. The SIT alleged that a portion of the offerings was siphoned off before being deposited into the temple's designated bank account, leading to the arrest of eight employees associated with handling and counting donations on June 26. Last month, a first information report was registered against eight named accused and other unidentified people under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61 and 3(5), relating to offences such as criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The eight men arrested so far include Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav 'Tinnu', Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey. Anukalp Mishra and Luvkush Mishra are related to each other, and also to trust member Anil Mishra. Ram Shankar Yadav - an aide of Rai - and Manish Yadav are related....