LUCKNOW, July 4 -- The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday intensified its parallel criminal investigation into the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Ram temple by taking arrested accused Avinash Shukla into 24-hour police custody for recoveries, reconstruction of events and verification of fresh leads even as the state government's Special Investigation Team (SIT) continued its probe into the financial and administrative functioning of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

A police team reached Ayodhya district jail at around 9am and took Shukla into custody before bringing him to the Reserve Police Lines, where he was interrogated for nearly two hours. Investigators then took him to multiple locations in Ayodhya and late...