70,000-page chargesheet filed in Ram Temple donation theft case
What's the story
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has submitted a nearly 70,000-page chargesheet in the Ram Temple donation embezzlement case. The SIT was formed on July 13 under the Supreme Court's orders and is headed by Lucknow range inspector general of police Kiran S. The chargesheet names eight accused: Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava.
Legal proceedings
Chargesheet filed within statutory 90-day period
The chargesheet was filed before the additional district judge (Corruption) Court in Ayodhya within the statutory 90-day period from the first arrest.
It includes charges of criminal breach of trust and offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case was registered in June after a preliminary probe by SIT flagged suspected diversion of temple donations.
Cash totaling ₹79.85 lakh, believed to be related to the embezzlement, was recovered from all defendants except Srivastava, according to TOI.
Investigation progress
Forensic audit key part of investigation
The SIT has uncovered 105 instances of unauthorized removal or concealment of cash during the counting process inside temple premises.
Investigators tracked donations from collection boxes to bank deposits and found evidence of cash siphoning during counting.
However, no signs of pilferage were found during transfers to banks.
A forensic audit by ASA & Associates LLP was a key part of the investigation, examining how donations were handled and matching records against the trust's audited statements.
Asset scrutiny
SIT scrutinized bank accounts, properties, vehicles of accused
The SIT also scrutinized bank accounts, properties, vehicles, and other assets of the accused to trace the money trail.
Statements of 173 witnesses were recorded, including trust functionaries and security personnel.
The SIT also verified 803 valuable donated articles recorded in the temple trust's TCS software and discovered no inconsistencies. Another 86 valuables without receipts were physically verified to look for any unreported donations.
Case update
Silver donations examined included these valuable items
Silver donations, including 200kg of silver bricks, a 38.288kg consignment, a silver necklace, Charan Paduka and a copy of Ramcharitmanas, were also examined.
Around 944.411kg of silver sent to the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd for melting was also verified.
The chargesheet was filed ahead of the September 25 deadline, when the 90-day period from the arrest of the first accused was due to expire.