Ayodhya News: The process for the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer (ECO) of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has now reached its final stage. The final round of interviews will be held on August 11th and 12th at the Ram Temple complex in Ayodhya. More than 5,000 people from across the country had applied for this prestigious position, but after the shortlisting, only 18 candidates remain in the final race.

According to reports, a three-member selection committee will interview all 18 candidates. A total of 5,200 applications were received for the CEO position. After preliminary screening and a first-round review, the selection committee called 54 people for interviews. After thorough scrutiny, 18 names have now been selected for the final round. Following these two-day interviews, the selection committee will compile a panel of the three most qualified candidates and submit it to the trust. These three names will then be discussed at a high-level meeting of the trust on September 2nd, and the new CEO will be finally announced.

This entire matter is linked to the theft of offerings at the Ram Temple that surfaced in June 2026. At that time, the Samajwadi Party made serious allegations of embezzlement of crores of rupees in cash and valuables offered by devotees. Given the seriousness of the matter, the government formed an SIT to investigate.

The SIT's investigation and CCTV footage revealed concrete evidence of repeated thefts by employees involved in counting offerings. Following this, an FIR was filed against eight individuals, and they were arrested, and approximately ₹80 lakh was recovered. As the controversy escalated, some Trust officials were forced to resign. In July 2026, the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust sought applications from across the country for the position of CEO, with the aim of strengthening and making the temple's administrative management transparent.