Prateek Tanmay
3 min readJammuJul 16, 2026 08:23 PM IST
Three days after a Jammu court asked the inquiry officer of the J&K Police to appear in person over the alleged misappropriation of Rs 500 crore in donations at Vaishno Devi, a comprehensive review of the shrine’s offerings and donations management system was conducted Thursday.
The review was conducted by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board under the chairmanship of J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
“The meeting was convened to ensure complete transparency, accountability and adherence to established Standard Operating Procedures in the management of offerings and donations received at the holy shrine,” officials said.
The Board and Sinha were also briefed on the verification process, surveillance mechanism, banking safeguards and periodic audits governing the system. The presentation highlighted that financial transactions relating to offerings and donations are carried out strictly in accordance with prescribed banking norms, statutory provisions and guidelines issued by the Government of India. Officials said stringent security protocols for the transportation, processing and refining of donations are followed through government-approved institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India and the India Government Mint, Hyderabad.
The review came three days after a Jammu court directed an inquiry officer of the J&K Police’s Crime Branch to appear in person with records related to the alleged offering of “fake silver” worth around Rs 500 crore at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in the Trikuta Hills near Katra.
The controversy arose after reports claimed that around 20 tonnes of accumulated silver offerings at the shrine, estimated to be worth about Rs 550 crore, had been sent by the Shrine Board for testing, melting and processing, and that only 5-6% of the material was reportedly found to be actual silver.
The complainant sought an investigation into whether devotees had been sold fake or adulterated silver articles by vendors and jewellers, or whether genuine silver offerings had been substituted, diluted, pilfered or misappropriated at any stage after they were received.
