The Uttar Pradesh Police have widened their investigation in the Ram Temple donation embezzlement case and conducted raids at the residences of all eight accused arrested in connection with it.
Teams from the Ayodhya Police, accompanied by local magistrates, carried out simultaneous searches on Sunday as they attempt to trace the money trail.
The raids came two days after all eight accused were remanded to judicial custody until June 29 by a court in Ayodhya. Police are expected to seek their custodial remand when they are produced before the court on Monday.
Those arrested have been identified as Vinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav. According to reports, all of them were associated with counting cash and valuables received as donations at the Ram Temple.
Earlier this month, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) after allegations of misappropriation of temple funds surfaced.
Based on the SIT's preliminary report, an FIR was registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to theft by a servant, criminal breach of trust, receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy, along with sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Police have so far recovered nearly Rs 80 lakh in cash, along with foreign currency, from the accused.
As the controversy intensified, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra resigned from their posts on Saturday. In a statement, the Trust assured devotees that a fair and impartial inquiry would be conducted into the allegations related to the Ram Temple donations.
"We are shocked, hurt, and deeply saddened by the events we have heard about over the past few days at Shri Ram Temple (Ayodhya). Serving here as representatives of all Ram devotees and Ram sevaks, we want to assure the devotees of Lord Ram that we are committed to a fair investigation," the statement issued by Treasurer Govind Dev Giri said.
