One of the wealthiest and most popular places of worship in India is currently embroiled in a dispute about the contributions made by devotees. Following claims that approximately Rs 500 crore worth of silver donated by devotees over the years was either lost or substituted with low-purity metal, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) has started a review of its offering management system.
The issue, which is presently being investigated by the courts, has sparked more general concerns about accountability and openness in the administration of offerings at significant religious organizations.
According to sources, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) transported roughly 20 tons of accumulated silver offerings, collected over a period of five to six years, to a government mint outside of Jammu and Kashmir for testing, melting, and processing. Only 5–6% of the substance was discovered to be pure silver when it was tested; the other material was purportedly made up of iron, cadmium, and other less expensive metals. At current market rates, the metal could have been worth around Rs 550 crore if it had been pure silver, but the realisable value is only a small portion of that.
At the temple in the Trikuta Hills next to Katra, pilgrims customarily offer silver chhatars (canopies), coins, ornaments, and other items. In order for the recovered metal to be sold or utilized in accordance with Shrine Board regulations, these objects are gathered, securely stored, and sent for refining on a regular basis. Tests on the melted batch, however, revealed that a large portion of the material handled and recorded as “silver” was either non-silver or contaminated. One major contaminant that has been identified in reports is cadmium, which is extremely poisonous and considered a carcinogen, posing health and safety risks to personnel who handle the items in addition to financial ones.
Advocate Deepak Sharma filed a complaint with the J&K Police Crime Branch on May 9, 2026, citing major offenses such as criminal conspiracy, deception, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, record manipulation, and potential usage of cadmium-laden material in offerings. The complainant requested an investigation into whether genuine silver gifts were swapped, diluted, stolen, or misappropriated after being received by the Shrine Board, or whether vendors and jewelers sold phony or adulterated silver products to devotees before they offered them at the shrine.
An inquiry officer of the Crime Branch was then ordered by a Jammu court to personally appear with all documents pertaining to the purported embezzlement of Rs 500 crore and the “fake silver” issue. A follow-up hearing has been scheduled for July 29, 2026.
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