'Important' documents, two cars, stock market: What SIT has found in Ram temple donation 'theft' case so far

AYodhya police force on midweek took Ramashankar Mishra, single of the francis scott key accused in the donation misappropriation case, to the rented house where he used to live in Ayodhya, and recovered important land-related documents from a bag kept in the house.The police sealed the house and also took the digital video recorder of the CCTV camera installed at the rented house, HT earlier reported. Investigating agencies are examining the documents to determine whether they have any connection with the case.Searches were also conducted at the locations linked to Mishra and another accused Subhash Srivastava. Both were brought from the Ayodhya district jail to the Special Operations Group (SOG) office after undergoing medical examination, where they were questioned for nearly 14 hours.Srivastava used to supervise the temple’s cash-counting operation, and Mishra, transported sealed donation boxes from the temple to the counting centre. The two are among the 8 arrested in the case.Also Read: Ram temple donation probe: SIT finds no irregularity in Trust’s banking records, audit trail, focuses on cash handling lapsesDeposits worth ₹7.32 lakh foundPolice are examining the role of Mishra and Srivastava and the documents that were seized from their houses. Deposits of about ₹7.32 lakh were found in Mishra's bank account, which his family says represents savings accumulated from his monthly salary over five to six years of service at the temple. Investigators are verifying whether the deposits were linked to the alleged diversion of donations.Police also carried out a search at Srivastava’s house where they found and examined several documents and said that the probe was ongoing. The officers added that if there is evidence of any illegal property or suspicious transactions, those will also be made part of the case diary, officials said on condition of anonymity.Police investigating Srivastava’s roleIncreasing its ante on Srivastava, police allege that he exploited vulnerabilities in the cash-counting mechanism to facilitate the alleged embezzlement. Although, no cash recoveries have been made from him so far, police officials said his role figures in the preliminary findings of the government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), which identified serious procedural and supervisory lapses in the temple’s donation management system.Two SUVs found, money invested in stock marketEarlier, during the custodial interrogation of co-accused Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey, investigators recovered two SUVs allegedly purchased with misappropriated donations, besides cash, gold ornaments and investment-related documents.Further investigation also reveals that part of the money from the donation scam was invested in the stock market and used for private lending before being routed through banking channels to conceal its origin.Lavkush Mishra’s wife given 7 days to submit property papersSupriya Mishra, wife of arrested accused Lavkush Mishra, was granted a seven day extension by the Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) on Wednesday to submit documents related to an under-construction house that came under scrutiny during the investigation.The authority warned that further action would be initiated in accordance with the law if the documents were not produced within the stipulated period.What is the case?The case came to light 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 comprising Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Panth, inspector general of police (Lucknow range) Kiran S and special secretary (finance) Neel Ratan).Following the preliminary SIT report on June 23, eight accused were arrested, including, Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu.The three member SIT, whose deadline ended on July 15 after receiving an extension earlier this month, is understood to be in the final stages of compiling its findings. It is expected to submit its final report to the Uttar Pradesh government within the next 48 hours.(With inputs from Rohit Kumar Singh, HT correspondents)