Journalist tells SC that U.P. Police seeking digital footprint to dig out his Ram Temple donation case sources

Abhishek Upadhyay, an independent journalist who flagged the alleged misappropriation of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple donations, urgently approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) claiming the Uttar Pradesh Police is trying to unearth his digital footprint from June 1, 2026 in a bid to identify his sources.

Appearing before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, the journalist’s counsel, advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi, informed that the investigating officer (IO) has sought Mr. Upadhyay’s digital footprint from social media platform ‘X’.

“The IO is investigating a road rage FIR against me. The FIR was registered on August 18, 2026. Why should he want my entire digital footprint from June 1, 2026, which happens to be the date from which I collected evidence on the Ram Temple donations...” Mr. Awasthi submitted.

The lawyer alleged that the police efforts were to unearth his client’s sources and to harass them.

“All my journalistic sources would be at the mercy of the State machinery and subject to harassment,” Mr. Awasthi said.

He urged the court to protect his client and his work from the State.

At one point, the CJI said that the police should be able to continue with their investigation. The court has already granted protection to Mr. Upadhyay from any coercive action in an order passed on August 25.

On August 25, Mr. Upadhyay, represented by senior advocate Pradeep Rai, had submitted that he had committed the “unpardonable sin of exposing the Ram Mandir donation issue”.

“I do not want any other relief other than a fair investigation,” Mr. Rai had submitted on behalf of his client.

The senior advocate had on that day said the police had not even handed over to the journalist a copy of the FIR and CCTV footage in the road rage case.

Subsequently, the court had ordered the police to provide Mr. Upadhyay with the copies of the FIR and CCTV footage, and file a compliance report in the Supreme Court on the next date of hearing on September 7.

The court had said the interim protection granted in the road rage case would also extend to any other FIRs filed in the interregnum against Mr. Upadhyay in order to give him “breathing space and time”.

The allegation against Mr. Upadhyay in the road rage case was that his SUV had hit a two-wheeler, following which he had shouted caste-based abuses at the scooterist.

Uttar Pradesh / court / Ayodhya Ram temple donation case