Ram Temple Donation ‘Theft’ Probe: Police zero in on Avinash Shukla, get his custody for ‘cash recovery’

“The court had earlier granted permission to interrogate Shukla inside the jail to corroborate the recovery of the cash from him earlier by the trustees and verify the details about his duty in the temple. Following the verification along with his questioning inside the jail, we filed the application in the court on Wednesday seeking his custody for recovery of cash,” said a senior police officer involved in the probe.

The police are believed to be taking Shukla to his native village, Babupur, in the Maheshganj area of Pratapgarh district, and later to Kaushalpuri locality in Ayodhya city, where he used to live with his elder brother Amit, who is a teacher.

Police have so far arrested eight people, including Shukla, in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donation money. The other seven are Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, and Subhash Srivastav.

Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu, considered to be close to general secretary of the Temple Trust Champat Rai, had exercised his influence to recruit his nephew Manish in the counting job, while Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra, Karunesh Pandey, and Subhash Srivastav allegedly got the help of trustee Anil Mishra to get the job of counting cash.

On Monday, they were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a local court.

Police have also widened the scope of their investigation to determine whether any of the accused, or their relatives, recently acquired properties or vehicles as they seek to trace the stolen money and valuables.

The investigation has also expanded to include scrutiny of bank accounts of the accused and those of their close associates and family members.

Police have also decided to question the owner and director of the Varanasi-based company engaged by the SBI to carry out the cash-counting process as part of the ongoing inquiry.The families of the accused, meanwhile, continued to insist that their relatives have been wrongly implicated. They told mediapersons that the arrested men had not displayed any sudden or unexplained increase in wealth that would warrant suspicion.

Tinnu Yadav’s nephew, Raj Kumar Yadav, dismissed the theft allegations as “false propaganda”, denying claims that his maternal uncle had amassed the properties under scrutiny.

“To the best of my knowledge, the last property my maternal uncle purchased was a hostel in 2008. I have no information about the rest. The police are investigating the matter, and I hope everything will become clear,” said 28-year-old Raj Kumar.

After searching the homes of all eight accused on Sunday, police returned on Wednesday to the residences of two of them — Lavkush Mishra and Anukalp Mishra.

A senior police officer said the team revisited the houses to record statements of family members and question them about the documents and other materials seized during the previous searches.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the relatives were unable to provide any significant information about the material recovered during the searches, the movements of the accused, or their alleged association with other accused.

“In view of the evidence being examined and the information still being verified, we are planning to seek police custody remand of all eight accused so they can be questioned in detail,” the officer said.

He added that police would use the custody remand to confront the accused with the evidence collected so far and cross-examine them as part of the investigation.

On Tuesday, police questioned one of the accused, Avinash Shukla, inside the jail after obtaining permission from the court.

All eight accused arrested in the case are being kept at the Ayodhya district jail. Jail officials said they have been housed under heightened security arrangements to ensure their safety and prevent any confrontation among them.

In another development, police recovered a donation box labelled “Ramrajya Kosh”, bearing a Paytm QR code, from a yoga centre in Ayodhya where the accused Avinash Shukla had been residing for the past 10 years, sources stated.

Sundar Lal, a yoga instructor at the centre, told PTI that the police had first raided the premises on June 5, inspected the CCTV footage, and searched the room where Shukla stayed.”The police arrived with Avinash and required us to vacate the premises where he was living. After they left, we learned that Rs 5 lakh had been recovered from his possession,” Lal said.

The investigation has also widened to cover the role of around 400 private security personnel deployed at the temple complex. Police are scrutinising their duty rosters, CCTV footage, entry and exit records, and other activities to ascertain whether security protocols were violated or whether anyone facilitated the alleged embezzlement.

Sources stated that legal action would be initiated against any security personnel found to have ignored rules or assisted in the theft.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government submitted its preliminary findings on June 23, following which an FIR was registered on June 25, and eight persons associated with the temple’s donation-counting process were arrested. Investigators also recorded the statement of Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai, who recently offered to resign, taking “moral responsibility” for the controversy.

(With PTI inputs)