Dehradun, Aug. 1 -- Suspended Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) staffer Pramod Nautiyal has confessed to his role in the alleged donation theft at the temple, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttarakhand Police said on Friday. According to police, silver coins, ornaments, Nepalese currency and cash were recovered during searches conducted while Nautiyal, who served as the personal assistant to the BKTC chairman, was in four-day police custody. He was arrested on July 12 and suspended earlier based on a preliminary report by an internal committee Badrinath station house officer (SHO) Mahadev Uniyal said the recoveries were made from the room allotted to Nautiyal at Badrinath Dham. "We recovered silver coins, small silver idols, small silver tortoises, bundles of Nepalese currency notes and some cash from his room. We are examining whether these are linked to the alleged misappropriation of temple donations," Uniyal said. "He confessed to the crime during questioning," the SHO added. Police have also seized documents related to Nautiyal's properties to verify how they were acquired, he added. According to the SHO, Nautiyal did not corroborate the possible involvement of any other accused during questioning. "After the expiry of his police remand, he was produced before the court and sent back to judicial custody," Uniyal said. During the four-day remand, the SIT took Nautiyal to the BKTC office, his residence in Dehradun and his accommodation in Badrinath as part of the investigation, police said. Nautiyal was responsible for coordinating VIP protocol and supervising donation counting at the Badrinath temple. Investigators are also examining the handling of funds collected for VIP darshan as part of the probe. The alleged donation theft is being investigated on multiple fronts. A four-member internal committee constituted by the BKTC has submitted its preliminary report to the committee chairman. Separately, an SIT of the police is probing the case, while a high-level committee constituted by the Uttarakhand government is conducting an independent inquiry. The alleged theft came to light after the Hindu right-wing organisation Bhairav Sena Sangathan submitted a memorandum to the BKTC chief executive officer on July 2, seeking immediate administrative action and registration of an FIR over alleged financial irregularities involving Nautiyal....