LUCKNOW/AYODHYA, July 16 -- The Ayodhya Police on Wednesday stepped up their investigation into the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Ram temple by subjecting two of the eight arrested accused to nearly 14 hours of custodial interrogation and conducting searches at premises linked to them as investigators sought to unravel the alleged conspiracy behind the diversion of devotees' offerings and close in on the money trail.

Retired bank employee Subhash Chandra Srivastava, who supervised the temple's cash-counting operation, and Ramashankar Mishra, who transported sealed donation boxes from the temple to the counting centre, were brought from the Ayodhya district jail to the Special Operations Group (SOG) office after undergoing ...