SUMIT SHARMA
Jammu: The alleged adulteration and possible misappropriation of silver offerings at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board on Tuesday came under renewed judicial scrutiny, with the Crime Branch informing the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Jammu, that the inquiry report from the SDPO, Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine/Bhawan, Katra, is still awaited.
The development came during the hearing of Complaint No. 1156/2026, titled Deepak Sharma versus Inspector General of Police and Senior Superintendent of Police, in connection with allegations relating to the quality, handling, accounting and possible adulteration or substitution of silver offerings made by devotees at the shrine.
During the proceedings, the Senior Prosecuting Officer (Sr. PO) of the Crime Branch apprised the court that the report sought from the SDPO, Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine/Bhawan, Katra, had not yet been submitted.
The court has now fixed September 19, 2026, as the next date of hearing.
The latest development assumes significance as the case involves allegations concerning a huge quantity of silver offerings accumulated at the shrine and questions over their purity, custody, processing and accounting. The allegations, however, remain subject to inquiry and have not been judicially established.
The controversy came to the fore following reports that approximately 20 tonnes of accumulated material described as silver offerings, reportedly valued at around ₹550 crore, had been sent by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board for testing, melting and processing at a government mint.
According to reports surrounding the controversy, testing of the melted material reportedly found only around 5–6 per cent actual silver, with the remaining material allegedly comprising cadmium, iron and other metals.
The findings raised a fundamental question: Were devotees unknowingly offering articles that were not genuine silver, or did any substitution, adulteration or pilferage allegedly take place after the offerings entered the Shrine Board’s custody?
It is precisely this question that has become central to the complaint filed by advocate Deepak Sharma.
Complainant had approached the Crime Branch seeking a comprehensive investigation into allegations of adulteration, substitution, pilferage, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation and manipulation of records in relation to the silver offerings.
The complaint also sought examination of the source, manufacture, procurement and supply chain of the alleged adulterated material, besides fixing responsibility, if any, on persons found involved.
Earlier court proceedings had already brought the Crime Branch inquiry under judicial scrutiny. In July, the CJM Jammu directed the Crime Branch inquiry officer to appear before the court with relevant records in connection with the complaint.
The matter gained further significance after the Jammu court, while dealing with the complaint, sought a detailed inquiry report and directed preservation of material evidence connected with the allegations.
The court’s directions included preservation of physical, documentary and electronic evidence so that material relevant to the allegations is not lost or compromised during the inquiry.
The complainant has sought examination of records relating to the receipt, weighing, inventory, storage, transportation, testing, processing and melting of the offerings.
These records could potentially help establish the quantity of material received by the Shrine Board, its recorded weight and description, the manner in which it was stored and transported, and the process through which it ultimately reached the mint for testing or processing.
The controversy has also brought the Shrine Board’s established system for handling precious-metal offerings into focus.
According to published reports, gold and silver offerings placed by pilgrims in donation boxes are weighed separately after the boxes are opened under official supervision. The articles are then sealed and kept in secure storage under surveillance before being transported for further processing.
The court inquiry is therefore expected to examine whether the records maintained at various stages correspond with the material that was ultimately sent for processing.
The issue is particularly significant in view of the enormous quantity of precious-metal offerings received at the shrine.
An RTI response from the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, as reported recently, showed that 7,671.45 kg of silver/white-metal offerings were received during 2024, 2025 and up to June 2026.
The reported figures include 4,080.655 kg in 2024, 2,916.94 kg in 2025 and 673.845 kg up to June 2026.
The same RTI information reportedly showed receipt of 32.10 kg of gold and cash donations of approximately ₹572.14 crore during the corresponding period, underlining the enormous scale of offerings handled by the shrine.
With the SDPO Bhawan inquiry report yet to be submitted, the next hearing on September 19 assumes significance.
For now, the ₹550-crore silver controversy remains an allegation under judicial and investigative scrutiny. The key issue before the authorities is to establish, through documentary evidence, testing records and a complete audit trail, where and how the alleged discrepancy in the silver offerings arose.
As the case moves towards its next hearing, the Crime Branch, SDPO Bhawan and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board remain central to the unfolding inquiry.
