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Shani Shingnapur puja app scam: Devasthan staff booked for fund misappropriation

  • The Shani Shingnapur puja app scam exposes the inherent failure of continued government control over Hindu temples and their finances.
  • Hindus must now firmly press for temples to be freed from government control and handed over to transparent, accountable management run by devotees- Editor, HJS

Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra – The cyber police have completed their investigation into financial irregularities involving the authorised online darshan and puja app of the Shri Shanaishwar Devasthan at Shani Shingnapur in Ahilyanagar district. A chargesheet has been filed before the Nevasa court.

An embezzlement of approximately ₹77,46,341 has been established, and nine individuals have been charge-sheeted in connection with the case.

Key points of the case 

  • The investigation found that certain temple officials and employees conspired to divert funds received through the authorised online puja platform, thereby misusing donations and offerings made by devotees.
  • Sanjay Pawar, a Devasthan employee, is accused of intimidating the app manager and compelling him to submit fabricated permission letters and falsified financial statements to the police. It was also found that puja permissions had been issued bearing his own signature.
  • The probe involved detailed scrutiny of nearly 100 bank accounts linked to trustees, officials, employees, priests and app operators, which helped uncover the misappropriation.
  • Investigators clarified that online puja bookings were conducted only through officially authorised platforms. No unauthorised apps were involved in the confirmed embezzlement cited in the chargesheet. The Devasthan had granted approval to five apps — Devdham, Shrimandir, Utsav, Vama and Shemaroo, for facilitating online puja bookings and live darshan. 
  • The investigation gained momentum after the issue was raised in the State Legislature and following directions issued by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Massive scam in government controlled Shani Shingnapur temple

July 12, 2025

  • Over 2000 ‘fake’ employees on payroll

  • Trustees collude to make fake puja app and siphon off hundreds of crores of donations

  • Maha CM vows to file criminal offence against offenders

A regrettable incident of trustees looting the Shani Shingnapur Devasthan at Ahilyanagar has come to light in the Legislative Assembly. The trustees appointed more than 2,000 fake employees and looted crores of rupees from the temple trust.

The primary motivation for government takeover of temples was to curb alleged incidents of corruption. In the decades since all the devotees have seen is more corruption at the hands of those government appointed custodians. A fresh example is a massive hiring scam that has been unearthed in the famous Shani temple of Shani Shingnapur, Maharashtra.

The scam in numbers –

Required number of employees to run the temple effeciently – 258
Number of employees on the payroll – 2 thousand 474

A breakdown of how the temple money is being siphoned off

80 employees for positions that don’t even exist
200 employees to ‘manage’ 109 rooms in the Bhaktanivas
327 employees with no fixed responsibility
163 employees to manage 13 vehicles owned by the temple
352 employees to manage the 12 donation stalls
83 employees listed as gardners, but not on duty
65 employees to oversee the 65 acres belonging to the temple
80 employees for water management
200 employees for the electricity department
82 employees for the goshala
118 employees to clean the parking lot
315 employees in the security department
97 employees in the prasadalay (canteen)

Unscrupulous trustees had allegedly enlisted the help of their cronies to open bank accounts in the name of these fictitious employees and deposited their ‘salaries’ there.

Bogus Puja App to the list!

Some employees and priests of the temple used their own QR code and donation books to funnel donations to their accounts instead of the temple account. They even started fake apps to facilitiate pujas in the temple. Each of these apps has over 2 lakh devotees. These apps have not been sanctioned by the Endowment board and are not connected to the temple. One estimate is that these apps have siphoned over 500 crores!

The government takeover of temple that is supposed to tackle corruption results in such massive scams! The question that arises is what will it take for Hindus to wake up and demand that the government relinquish all control of all temples and hand it over to the devotees.

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