Ram temple donation theft: Custody of 8 extended till Sept 18

Ayodhya (UP): A court here on Saturday extended till September 18 the judicial custody of all eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple, their lawyer said.

The eight accused, who were associated with the temple’s donation-counting process, were arrested after an FIR was lodged on June 25 following a preliminary report by a state government-constituted Special Investigation Team. They are currently lodged in jail.

Lawyer Kul Shekhar Singh, who represents the accused, told PTI that the judicial custody of all the accused was extended till September 18.

The order was passed by Special Judge Rajat Verma of the Anti-Corruption Court in Ayodhya.

The eight accused arrested in the case are Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav.

In his bail application, Srivastava informed the court about the donation-counting process and claimed that he has been falsely implicated in the case, the counsel said.

He also contended that several other people, apart from the eight arrested accused, were involved in the counting process, the lawyer said.

The counsel said the bail applications of three accused will be heard on September 11, followed by those of another three accused on September 14.

The bail pleas of the remaining two accused will be heard on September 15, he said.

The case relates to the embezzlement of cash and valuables offered by devotees at the Ram temple. Investigators have so far recovered Rs 79.85 lakh, according to the prosecution.

Most of the accused were bank employees deployed for counting cash donations at the temple, while Srivastava was in charge of the donation-counting process and Tinnu Yadav worked as a driver.

On Tuesday, the counsel had sought the unfreezing of Srivastava’s Canara Bank account, arguing that the account received his pension and was being used to support his family. The court had adjourned that plea to September 9.