Ram Temple Trust Appoints Retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as CEO

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust appointed retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as its first Chief Executive Officer on September 3, 2026. The appointment follows a donation embezzlement scandal that led to eight arrests and the resignation of former general secretary Champat Rai. Mishra, a decorated veteran and former head of the Western Air Command during Operation Sindoor, was selected from over 5,500 applicants through an AI-assisted screening process managed by a committee led by retired Justice Pramod Kohli.

As part of a broader administrative overhaul to centralize management, the Trust also inducted three new trustees: Madan Mohan Pandey, Mahesh Bhagchandka, and Nirmala Yadav, the first woman to serve on the board. Govind Dev Giri was named general secretary and Bhagchandka was appointed treasurer. The Trust's leadership also reviewed the 2025-26 annual accounts, which showed bank holdings of approximately ₹1,882 crore as of March 2026, and discussed a Special Investigation Team probe into financial irregularities.

Opposition leaders criticized the move, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leaders arguing that a religious scholar or Shankaracharya should have led the trust. Congress leader Ajay Rai claimed the CEO role was created to "legalise the theft of offerings." In response, the Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the skepticism as an "anti-Army" mindset. Mishra has since arrived in Ayodhya for introductory meetings and is expected to formally take charge after reviewing the trust's operational processes.