A special court in Ayodhya on Friday extended till September 21 the judicial custody of all eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged theft and embezzlement of cash and valuables donated by devotees at the Ram temple.
Special Judge Rajat Verma of the Anti-Corruption Court passed the order and directed police to produce the case diary and investigation report when the matter comes up for hearing on September 21, advocate Kul Shekhar Singh, who represents the accused, said.
The eight accused, who were associated with the donation-counting process at the temple, have been in jail following their arrests after an FIR was registered on June 25 on the basis of a preliminary report submitted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Eight remain in jail
Those arrested have been identified as Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav.
Most of the accused were bank employees deployed for counting cash donated at the temple. Srivastava was in charge of the donation-counting process, while Tinnu Yadav worked as a driver.
The case centres on allegations that cash and valuables offered by devotees were misappropriated during the donation-counting process.
According to the prosecution, investigators have recovered Rs 79.85 lakh so far as part of the probe.
Court seeks case diary
Singh said hearings on the bail applications filed by the accused had repeatedly been deferred because the investigating officer had not submitted the investigation report before the court.
The court has now directed the investigating officer to place both the report and the case diary before it at the next hearing.
The defence lawyer said that if police failed to produce the case diary on September 21, he would move an application seeking bail for the accused.
The directions are significant as the court considers the bail pleas while the investigation into the alleged diversion of temple donations continues.
Accused claims false implication
In his bail application, Srivastava has denied the allegations and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case.
His counsel said Srivastava had also placed details of the donation-counting procedure before the court and contended that the process involved several people other than the eight accused who were arrested.
The defence has sought to rely on the broader participation in the counting exercise while challenging the allegations against Srivastava.
The accusations against the eight remain subject to investigation and judicial proceedings, and no finding of guilt has been made against them.
The case will now return before the Anti-Corruption Court on September 21, when police have been asked to submit the case diary and investigation report and the court is expected to take up the pending proceedings concerning the accused.