Ram Temple Donation Theft Case: 15-day extension to SIT

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government has granted a 15-day extension to the team investigating the Ayodhya Ram Temple donation theft case to complete its probe.

According to the state government, the special investigation team had sought additional time to conduct a comprehensive examination of the various aspects of the case. Accepting the request, chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed SIT to submit its report by July 15, a government release said on Wednesday.

The SIT submitted a preliminary report on June 23 to the UP government' home department. An FIR was registered later and eight people were arrested. The accused - Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav - are currently in judicial custody.


Ayodhya Police on Wednesday conducted fresh searches as part of its investigation into the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple and recovered a donation box with a QR code and seized cash, gold, silver and foreign currency, sources said.

Police also conducted an extensive search at the residence of the accused Lavkush Mishra combing through stacks of dry fodder.

Police sources said that Lavkush's father, Bachchu Lal Mishra, was taken into custody for questioning.

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

Meanwhile, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairman of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, has been admitted to an intensive care unit of a private hospital here after being diagnosed with urinary tract infection.

-With inputs from agencies