Ram temple theft: 'Important documents' found in accused's house

Ayodhya : The ongoing investigation into the Ram temple donation embezzlement case has seen significant progress with Ayodhya police recovering crucial documents and probing potential investments made with the misappropriated funds.

Ayodhya police recovered crucial land-related documents from accused Ramashankar Mishra's rented house in the Ram temple donation embezzlement case.

Authorities are actively investigating whether the alleged embezzled funds were used to purchase property or make other investments.

Police remand for key accused Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava has allowed for further searches and examination of evidence.

Previous interrogations of co-accused led to the recovery of vehicles, cash, gold, and documents related to investments, including in the stock market.

The Uttar Pradesh government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations, leading to FIR registration and the arrest of eight accused.

A police team on Wednesday took Ramashankar Mishra, one of the eight accused persons in the Ram temple donation embezzlement case, to the rented house where he used to live in Ayodhya and recovered important documents from a bag kept in his house, according to sources.

The police sealed the room in the rented house of the accused. The police have taken the DVR of the CCTV camera installed at Mishra's rented house into their custody, official sources said.

Investigation Into Accused's Assets : The police team conducted searches at the locations linked to Mishra and another accused Subhash Srivastava.

Mishra, who is on police remand, was taken along and, on his identification, his rented house was also searched.

The police found important land-related documents in a bag kept in the rented house. Investigating agencies are now examining these documents to determine whether they have any connection to the case, the sources said.

The police are also probing whether the accused used the alleged embezzled donation money to purchase property or make other investments, they said.

Remand And Further Searches : The police also carried out a search operation at the location of Srivastava, who is also on police remand, and examined several important documents and other items, according to the sources.

The police said the investigation is still ongoing and the recovered documents will be verified.

If the probe finds evidence of any illegal property or suspicious transactions, those will also be made part of the case diary, they said. The police said every aspect related to the matter is being thoroughly probed and further legal action will be taken on the basis of the available evidence.

For now, further revelations in the case are likely only after the examination of the recovered documents.

The court of Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) on Tuesday granted a 14-hour police remand of Mishra and Srivastava in the Ram temple donation embezzlement case.

Previous Recoveries And SIT Formation : The police have already interrogated co-accused Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey during separate spells of police remand in connection with the case.

The sources claimed that the interrogation of the four accused led to the recovery of two four-wheelers allegedly purchased using the misappropriated money, besides cash, gold and documents relating to investments.

The investigation had also revealed that part of the allegedly embezzled money was invested in interest-based lending and the stock market, they further claimed.

The embezzlement of Ram temple donations came to light in the first week of June, following which the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on June 13 to probe the allegations and was initially given 15 days to probe the allegations.

Following the submission of the preliminary SIT report on June 23, an FIR was registered on June 25 and eight accused -- Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav -- were arrested.

During the investigation, the police recovered cash from multiple accused, with the highest recovery of Rs 20.39 lakh being made from Avinash Shukla, besides gold, silver, foreign currency and a donation box labelled "Ramrajya Kosh".