A three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) returned to Ayodhya on Thursday and questioned three key Ram Temple Trust functionaries, Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao, for six hours even as deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya appeared to defend Rai and more arrests in the row seemed imminent.
The developments came on a day the Ayodhya police obtained the first police custody remand of an accused in the donation row. The court of additional district judge (Anti-Corruption) Rajat Varma granted 24-hour police custody remand of Avinash Shukla, from whose house ₹20.40 lakh cash was recovered by the police earlier this month.
According to people familiar with the matter, the Ayodhya police sought Avinash Shukla’s remand at the instance of the SIT. Further arrests are likely based on information obtained from Shukla during the day-long remand, the people quoted above said.
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Separately, Rai, who resigned as general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust last week following allegations of irregularities in the Ram temple donation collections, told associates that his service in Ayodhya was complete and that he would not carry this “stigma” with him. Rai, who is currently in seclusion, also said that his trust has been “betrayed”, according to people familiar with the matter.
{{/usCountry}}Separately, Rai, who resigned as general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust last week following allegations of irregularities in the Ram temple donation collections, told associates that his service in Ayodhya was complete and that he would not carry this “stigma” with him. Rai, who is currently in seclusion, also said that his trust has been “betrayed”, according to people familiar with the matter.
{{/usCountry}}The future of Rai and trust member Anil Mishra, who have both resigned from their posts, is likely to be decided at a meeting of the trust set to be held in Ayodhya on Monday. The meeting is also expected to deliberate on key issues concerning the trust management, particularly in light of the SIT recommendations.
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The eight men arrested so far include Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey. Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra are related to each other, and also to trust member Anil Mishra, who resigned last week along with trust general secretary Champat Rai. Ram Shankar Yadav – an aide of Rai – and Manish Yadav are related.
Last week, the police seized ₹79,85,493 from the eight arrested men, recovering money from bathrooms and cow dung cakes.
In Prayagraj, Maurya appeared to defend Rai – the first time a senior UP minister has spoken about a trust official since the controversy broke last month.
“There is no need to comment while the investigation is underway. The incident that took place is being investigated by the SIT, and the police have also registered an FIR and are conducting a probe. We should wait for the outcome of the investigation. However, the Opposition has no moral right to speak on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi issue,” he said, according to news agency IANS.
“Those who worked with immense dedication for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi movement, including Champat Rai ji and everyone involved in the temple movement, have been deeply pained by this incident. But the way this issue is being turned into a major public controversy is unnecessary,” he added.
On Thursday, officials said the SIT reached the Ram temple complex at around 2.30 pm and questioned Rai, Mishra and Rao for nearly six hours. The exercise marked the beginning of the team’s extended investigation after the Uttar Pradesh government granted it time until July 15 to complete its probe.
The SIT had questioned Rai for nearly three hours on Sunday. During the latest round, investigators revisited several aspects of the temple’s donation management system and sought detailed explanations from the trust functionaries on the administrative framework governing cash collection, counting and banking, said officials.
The investigators spent time understanding the entire fund management mechanism, including the recruitment of outsourced personnel engaged in cash-counting operations, the memorandum of understanding signed with the State Bank of India (SBI) for cash management, and the supervisory responsibilities assigned to different stakeholders, the officials added.
Officials said the extended questioning was aimed at establishing the extent of administrative oversight exercised over the handling, counting and banking of devotees’ offerings and identifying whether supervisory failures contributed to the alleged embezzlement.
Investigators are simultaneously examining the role of SBI officials associated with the temple’s cash management system, the outsourced agency responsible for deploying manpower for cash-counting operations, and the implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) governing the handling of donations.
Officials said the SIT is verifying whether mandatory safeguards—including frisking of personnel, CCTV surveillance, deployment protocols, supervisory checks and other security measures—were properly enforced or whether systemic deficiencies allowed the alleged theft to continue undetected.
This is SIT’s second major spell of investigation in Ayodhya. The team had earlier camped in the temple town between June 15 and 20, examining documents, inspecting the cash-handling process and recording statements of officials before submitting a preliminary report to the state government on June 23.
The three-member SIT comprises Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, inspector general of police (Lucknow Range) Kiran S and special secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan. Senior officials said the team is expected to submit its final report to the Uttar Pradesh government by July 15, with the findings likely to determine whether the scope of the criminal investigation is widened further to include additional individuals or agencies.
The controversy first surfaced on June 7 when Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan ‘Pawan’ Pandey alleged that donations worth ₹5 crore to ₹7.5 crore were siphoned off from temple offerings.
On June 13, the state government set up an SIT. According to investigators, the probe prima facie revealed a systematic diversion of cash during the collection and counting process. The SIT alleged that a portion of the offerings was siphoned off before being deposited into the temple’s designated bank account, leading to the arrest of eight employees associated with handling and counting donations on June 26.
Last month, a first information report was registered against eight named accused and other unidentified people under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61 and 3(5), relating to offences such as criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.