Ayodhya, July 1 (IANS) Even as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) intensifies its probe into embezzlement of donations and offerings at the Ram Temple, the series of disclosures sheds light on the deep nexus that existed among the temple staff and how they breached all norms and violated Ram bhakts’ trust to fill their own coffers.

Latest revelations in the temple theft episode show the amount of cash recovered from seven out of eight accused. Though crores of money and valuables are reported to have been siphoned off from the temple by the greedy staff, a theft of Rs 79.85 lakh has been documented on record.

The revelations apparently come from the submission of documents before the court by the investigating team.

According to documents in the public domain, a large amount of cash seizures have been made from Lavkush and Anukalp Mishra, while Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, who emerged as the most talked about face of alleged loot, was caught hiding Rs 1 lakh cash.

According to documents, Rs 14.25 lakh was recovered from Lavkush Mishra and Rs 16.82 lakh from Anukalp Mishra.

The accused, Avinash Shukla, was found to be in possession of maximum cash, illegally procured from temple offerings. A whopping amount of Rs 20.39 lakh was recovered from him. The police, during the course of the investigation, also found him to be in possession of dollars and some yellow metals.

The cash seizure from his premises showed recovery of more than 3,600 notes in the denomination of Rs 500, more than 500 notes in the denomination of Rs 200 and notes of Rs 10, 20 and Rs 50 – leaving a clear hint that he amassed it from the temple offerings.

Karunesh Pandey is another accused from whom huge cash was recovered in denominations of Rs 500, Rs 200, Rs 50, Rs 10 and Rs 20. According to official records, the police recovered a total of Rs 18.07 lakh in cash from his possession.

Another accused, Ramashankar Mishra, also acquired illegal wealth to the tune of Rs 7.32 lakh and some white metals, including silver. His cash hoarding also included rupee denominations in Rs 500, Rs 200, Rs 20 and Rs 10.

Two other accused, namely Manish Kumar Yadav and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu, were found to be in possession of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, purportedly diverted and stolen from devotees’ offerings.

Following the formation of the SIT panel, the police had arrested eight persons, namely Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav – all accused of conspiring to siphon off cash and valuables from the Ram temple’s donation boxes.

–IANS

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