Varanasi/Ayodhya, July 1 -- Six of the eight men arrested in connection with irregularities in the Ram Temple donation collections were on the payroll of a Varanasi-based security agency that provided manpower for the cash-counting process at the shrine in Ayodhya, HT has found. This agency - Sainik Security Services - was incorporated in its present form with a Varanasi registered address and a paid-up capital of Rs.1 lakh in December 2017, according to the ministry of corporate affairs database. The agency was hired by the State Bank of India (SBI), Naya Ghat Branch, Ayodhya for the cash-counting process, said Gaurav Singh, the owner and director of Sainik Security Services, Varanasi. The branch is one of the three bank branches where the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust had an account. He added that the branch recommended the names of 19 people to be included in the cash-counting team. "Usually, it's the corporate office that raises demand, but in this case, the local branch raised the demand for the 19 employees", said Gaurav Singh. "In this case, the branch asked us to induct 19 of its previously deployed persons into our fold and provide them to the branch. We did so. The demand was raised by the local branch," he added. SBI said it is cooperating with the SIT. In a statement, SBI said it has provided the trust with banking services since the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in January 2024. A senior SBI official in Lucknow who asked not to be named said: "Usually, hirings such as these are done at the corporate or centralised level." According to the agency's website, it works across 15 states and lists a number of government companies among its clients. The documents submitted by the Ayodhya police to the court of Rajat Varma, additional district judge, anti-corruption, reveal that six of the eight accused were being paid by the Varanasi-based agency, said people aware of the matter....