Ram Temple embezzlement: Police recover jewellery, documents from Tinnu Yadav’s house

Ayodhya: Police on Sunday recovered jewellery and documents from the house of accused Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, after searches were conducted at the residences of all eight accused, arrested in connection with the alleged misappropriation of donations and offerings at the Ram Mandir.

This comes after the eight individuals were sent to three-day judicial custody on Friday. They will stay in jail till June 29 and will be produced before a city court again on Monday.

According to police sources, some cash and property documents were also recovered from the house of Yadav, who is associated with the temple management.

By evening, the police will complete an assessment to determine exactly what has been recovered from the premises of each accused.

Later at night, the investigators will decide whether to seek police custody of the accused again during the court hearing tomorrow.

Officials have recovered some items from the residence of each accused, and all the recovered materials are currently being verified.

Earlier in the day, accused Tinnu Yadav’s neighbour, Tara Devi, speaking to IANS, referred to him as a “brother” and expressed faith in his innocence.

Asserting that Yadav was a good person, she claimed: “He is being framed.”

Krishna Nand Tiwari, a neighbour of accused Anukalp Mishra, said: “Action is being taken, brother (Mishra) or whoever is involved in this, whoever has committed theft or wrongdoing, they should be given the strictest punishment. They should be ashamed of their act, especially since it is related to God. They have betrayed the faith of crores of devotees.”

About the accused, he said: “Though he (Mishra) didn’t come across as such a kind of person, but one can never gauge anybody’s intentions.”

Another neighbour, Anurag, said he had known Mishra for around a year. “He was a person of good nature; we used to greet each other whenever we met. But I don’t know if he had any malicious intention,” he told IANS.

A total of eight accused have been booked for alleged theft at the temple, and all were subsequently arrested. The FIR was registered at Ayodhya Kotwali police station on Thursday, based on a complaint filed by Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Those named in the case include Ramshankar Yadav, Trust employees Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, and Avinash Shukla; and retired bank employee Subhash Srivastava.

The filing of the case came soon after a three-member SIT flagged several irregularities at multiple levels in its preliminary report.

The police state that the entire episode of alleged theft will be uncovered based on interrogation of the accused and CCTV-based evidence. If more names are revealed in the investigation, action will be taken against them as well.

The preliminary probe has highlighted key roles played by each accused at various levels. The role of Ramshankar Yadav, alias Tinnu Yadav, is particularly under increased scrutiny.

IANS