Ayodhya, Jun 26: A court in Ayodhya has remanded all eight accused arrested in the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram Temple to police custody until June 29, allowing investigators more time to question them, officials said on Friday.
Prosecution Officer K.C. Verma said the accused will remain in police custody until Monday and will be produced before the special court thereafter.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav.
According to Verma, investigators have recovered ₹79.85 lakh during the ongoing probe.
Police have invoked charges related to criminal breach of trust by public servants along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, alleging that the accused misappropriated cash donations offered by devotees at the Ram Temple.
The prosecution officer said five to six of the accused were bank employees assigned to count the temple’s cash donations and were drawing salaries from the bank. However, he declined to disclose their identities at this stage of the investigation.
He added that Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav was employed as a driver and not a bank employee, while Subhash Srivastava supervised the donation-counting process.
The case stems from the alleged embezzlement of cash and valuables donated by devotees. An FIR was registered following a preliminary report submitted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), with the investigation currently being carried out jointly by the SIT and Ayodhya police.
