Ayodhya police raid homes of eight accused in Ram temple donation embezzlement case

Ayodhya Police raided the homes of eight people arrested in the alleged Ram Temple donation embezzlement case, collecting documents and examining assets. Investigators have recovered ₹79.85 lakh so far, with police expected to seek custodial remand of the accused

Ayodhya (UP): Ayodhya police on Sunday conducted simultaneous raids at the residences of all eight people arrested in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donations at Ram temple, police sources said.

Police teams, accompanied by local magistrates, carried out searches at the homes of the accused, including Lav Kush Mishra, Avinash Shukla and Ramashankar Yadav, the sources said.

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The raids come two days after all eight accused were remanded in judicial custody till June 29 by a court in Ayodhya. Police are expected to seek their custodial remand when they are produced before the court on Monday.

During Sunday’s searches, the police collected documents, including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and bank-related details from the residence of accused Manish Yadav after asking his family members to open the locked house, the sources said.

Searches were also carried out at the residences of other accused, including Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav, where family members were questioned and documents examined, while the police also spoke to neighbours and relatives of some of the accused to gather information about their assets, background and activities.

The eight accused — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav — were associated with counting cash and valuables received as donations at the Ram Temple.

According to the prosecution, investigators have so far recovered Rs 79.85 lakh. The case has been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to theft by servant, criminal breach of trust, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy, besides sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The FIR was registered on the recommendation of a preliminary report submitted by a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government after allegations of misappropriation of funds of the temple surfaced earlier this month.

The issue has snowballed into a major controversy with opposition parties, including the Congress and Samajwadi Party, targeting the BJP and the RSS.