Lucknow, Aug. 9 -- The accused in the Ram temple donation theft case have challenged the charges against them and sought production of the entire case diary before a court in Ayodhya. Advocate Kulshakhar Singh, deputy head, legal aid defence counsel, submitted an application to this effect on Friday in the anti-corruption court on behalf of the eight accused currently lodged in Ayodhya jail. On June 26, the Ayodhya police had arrested eight men -- Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav 'Tinnu', Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Ramashankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey - in the Ram temple donation case on allegations of embezzlement. In the application, the accused alleged that the investigating officer is probing offences that were not committed at all. Singh submitted that the maximum punishment for the alleged offences is seven years. He argued that the accused are neither habitual thieves nor public servants, and that there has been no criminal breach of trust committed by them in their capacity as temple workers. "No offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita is made out against them," Singh argued in court. The defence has requested that the complete case diary of the investigation so far be summoned before the hearing scheduled for August 10. The court, after hearing the submissions, directed the police to file its report and listed the matter for August 10. Since the arrest of eight accused, the Ayodhya police have taken their police custody remand (PCR) for interrogation. The investigation into the alleged theft of donations from the Ram Mandir has expanded to 12 districts across the state. The police and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) are now probing the properties and investments of the accused, their family members and close associates. Officials said the widened probe aims to trace funds allegedly siphoned from donation boxes and determine whether they were invested in benami assets. Apart from Ayodhya, letters have been sent to district magistrates of Lucknow, Noida, Prayagraj, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Bahraich, Gonda, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar and Barabanki. The DMs have been asked to provide details of immovable and benami properties linked to the accused. SIT sources said the move follows inputs that donation money may have been diverted and invested in land and other assets in different districts. The investigation is currently being led by circle officer, Ayodhya, Ashutosh Tiwari under the supervision of senior IPS officers....