SRINAGAR: A Jammu court has sought the complete records from the Jammu Kashmir Police Crime Branch in connection with allegations that nearly 20 tonnes of silver offerings worth an estimated Rs 550 crore made by devotees at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine were either adulterated, substituted or misappropriated, directing the investigating officer to appear personally with the case record on July 29.
The order comes amid allegations that metallurgical tests conducted after the Shrine Board sent the accumulated offerings to a government mint found that only about five per cent of the consignment was genuine silver, while the remaining material largely comprised cadmium and iron. This reduced its estimated value from around Rs 550 crore to nearly Rs 30 crore, according to the complaint before the court, as was reported by NDTV.
The proceedings arise from a petition filed by Jammu advocate Deepak Sharma, who has sought registration of an FIR against unknown persons, alleging criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, adulteration, substitution of silver offerings and manipulation of official records. The complaint also raises concerns over the reported presence of toxic cadmium in the offerings.
Appearing before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Crime Branch submitted a status report stating that the complaint had been forwarded to the Crime Headquarters in Srinagar and later to the Zonal Police Headquarters, Jammu, for necessary action. The complainant, however, argued that merely forwarding the complaint did not satisfy the statutory obligation to register an FIR when cognisable offences were disclosed.
The court has now directed the Inquiry Officer of the Crime Branch to remain personally present on the next date of hearing along with the entire record relating to the complaint.
In objections filed before the court, Sharma contended that despite submitting complaints to the Crime Branch on May 9 and May 13, 2026, no FIR had been registered and no meaningful investigative step had been disclosed.
He argued that the status report did not indicate whether any preliminary enquiry had been initiated, whether records had been seized, CCTV footage preserved, witnesses examined or forensic examination undertaken. According to the complainant, the only action reflected in the report was movement of the complaint between different police offices.
Invoking the Supreme Court’s judgment in Lalita Kumari v Government of Uttar Pradesh (2014), the petition contends that registration of an FIR is mandatory where information discloses a cognisable offence and that internal administrative procedures cannot override statutory obligations under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The application seeks directions for preservation of inventory records, donation registers, assay reports, transport records, CCTV footage, electronic data and all documents relating to the receipt, storage, transportation, testing and melting of the offerings.
The complaint argues that the investigation should not be confined to the theory that devotees unknowingly offered fake silver.
Instead, it seeks investigation into two parallel possibilities: first, whether devotees were sold counterfeit or cadmium-laden silver by jewellers and vendors; and second, whether genuine silver offerings were substituted after reaching the Shrine Board during collection, storage, transportation or processing.
The petition also seeks examination of the entire chain of custody of the offerings, including inventory procedures, storage in strong rooms, dispatch to the government mint, transportation records, GPS data, seal numbers, weighbridge slips and CCTV footage. It further requests investigation into any possible involvement of Shrine Board officials or other public servants if evidence of collusion or custodial substitution emerges.
The complainant has also referred to an RTI-based disclosure made in 2014, when reports had indicated that out of 81,635 kg of silver and 193.5 kg of gold received by the shrine over five years, substantial quantities were found to be fake or impure.
According to the complaint, no comprehensive criminal investigation or publicly available inquiry report followed those disclosures. It argues that the latest findings may indicate a long-standing systemic failure or organised racket rather than an isolated incident.
The petition seeks registration of an FIR under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Prevention of Corruption Act and other laws, besides a forensic audit of valuable offerings received by the Shrine Board over the past decade and a special drive against fake silver articles sold in and around the Katra pilgrimage area.
