All the eight accused were arrested on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in donations to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a day after the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday filed a case in the matter.
The case was filed based on a complaint filed by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Foundation, which runs the temple. A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged in the case in the name of Ramashankar Yadav, also known as Tinu, an assistant secretary general of the fund, Champat Rai, and seven others.
A police officer said that investigators are examining the alleged role of Yadav, who is among those arrested, in handling the donations and their movement. “The other arrested accused are Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava, a retired bank employee who was responsible for counting donations.”
The FIR was registered in the case days after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted its preliminary investigation in which it recommended criminal action. Opposition Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan Pandey made allegations of irregularities for the first time.
The accused have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61, and 3(5), relating to criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy.
The Uttar Pradesh government formed the three-member Special Investigation Team on June 13 at the request of the Trust. The court spent five days in Ayodhya between June 15 and 20 to conduct a preliminary investigation.
Investigators examined collection, counting, storage, accounting, access control and surveillance boxes, people familiar with the investigation said. It pointed out that there were apparent irregularities in dealing with the offers.
The investigation was expected to expand and focus on the extent of the alleged embezzlement, the role of those with direct access to donations, and whether the trial ends with the eight defendants mentioned or extends further.
