Police on Sunday conducted simultaneous raids at the residences of all eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged theft of donation money from the Ram Temple. Investigators are also likely to seek police custody of the accused for further interrogation.
According to sources, the accused, who were arrested late on Thursday night, were remanded to three days’ judicial custody on Friday. They are scheduled to be produced before a magistrate on Monday, when the police are expected to move an application seeking their custodial remand.
Police teams carried out searches at eight locations linked to the accused. During the operation, three of the houses were found locked. Investigators questioned family members and neighbours and collected evidence from the premises.
The raids were conducted at the residences of Ramashankar alias Tinnu, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar, Karunesh Pandey and Ramashankar Mishra.
The residence of Ramashankar alias Tinnu, a close associate of Ram Temple Trust General Secretary Champat Rai, was initially found locked. His mother later arrived and opened the house, following which police searched the premises and recorded her statement.
The nearby residence of Tinnu’s nephew, Manish Kumar, was also found locked. Similarly, the house of accused Subhash Srivastava was locked at the time of the raid.
Police also searched the residence of Anukalp Mishra, where they examined documents related to property transactions and bank accounts. Statements of family members were recorded in the presence of revenue officials including local accountants.
The rented accommodation of accused Avinash Shukla in Kaushalpuri Phase-I was also searched. As the premises were locked, police secured the area and carried out an on-site investigation.
Sources said nearly ₹79 lakh has so far been recovered from seven of the accused. The highest recovery – around ₹20 lakh – was reportedly made from Avinash Shukla.
The case came to light on June 6 following allegations of theft of donation money from the Ram Temple.
Acting on the recommendation of the temple trust, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which submitted its report to the administration last Wednesday.
Based on the SIT findings, an FIR was registered on Thursday evening at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station on a complaint filed by temple trust member Krishna Mohan. The FIR named staff involved in the donation-counting process — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar, Karunesh Pandey and Ramashankar Mishra — as well as supervisory staff member Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu, the driver of General Secretary Champat Rai.
In his complaint, Krishna Mohan stated that the SIT investigation had revealed that certain employees engaged in counting donations had allegedly misappropriated funds. The report also indicated the prima facie involvement of supervisory staff member Subhash Srivastava and bank supervisor Ramashankar alias Tinnu. Acting on these findings, police arrested all eight accused.