Ayodhya, July 2 -- As the probe into the alleged embezzlement of Ram temple donations reaches a crucial stage, the Ayodhya police on Wednesday filed an application in the court of additional district judge (Anti-Corruption) Rajat Varma seeking two-day police custody remand of Avinash Shukla, one of the eight accused arrested on June 26 in connection with the case. The move comes a day after Ashutosh Tewari, the Ayodhya circle officer who is the investigating officer in the case, interrogated Shukla in Ayodhya jail on Tuesday (June 30). Shukla reportedly pointed a finger at some Trust officials, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apart from the eight arrested men who were part of the cash-counting team at the temple, the Ayodhya police have also sought details of State Bank of India staff tasked with supervising the cash-counting job at Ram temple. In particular, two State Bank of India Grade 3 staffers who regularly supervised the cash-counting work at the Ram temple, are on the police probe team's radar, a senior police officer familiar with the matter said. This officer said both employees were present while cash was counted in front of them and deposited in the bank. "Embezzlement of such a huge amount of donation-money could not have occurred without their knowledge," he added. According to the police official who did not wish to be quoted, the probe team will also question employees of the Varanasi- based Sainik Security Services, the agency which provided additional manpower to the bank. HT had reported on Wednesday that six of the eight men arrested in connection with irregularities in the Ram temple donation collections were on the payroll of the Varanasi-based Sainik Security Services. All eight arrested accused, including Avinash Shukla, are currently lodged in Ayodhya jail. The ADJ contacted Shukla via video conferencing and asked whether he had a lawyer to represent him. As Faizabad district court advocates passed a resolution not to represent any accused in court, Shukla has no lawyer. The ADJ has apprised the District Legal Services Authority to appoint a lawyer for Shukla. Hearing for the police custody remand will take place on Thursday via video conferencing. "Details of all eight accused in jail at present, the SBI staff deployed in Ram Mandir and all others associated in any way with the cash-counting job in Ram Mandir are being collected," said the senior police officer. "Detials (Aadhaar and PAN) of all eight accused and SBI staff on radar have been sent to various departments, including the development authorities, income tax and revenue, to extract information about their financial status," the senior officer added. "Huge cash (around Rs 20 lakh) was recovered from Avinash Shukla. This does not mean he has the most cash. It is also possible that he was the only one unable to park (invest) money anywhere," the officer said. It is also possible that other accused may have embezzled bigger amounts than Avinash Shukla, he added. "To build a case in court it is necessary to produce enough evidence against them in court to ensure their conviction," said an officer probing the case. The Ayodhya police arrested eight men on June 26 - Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav 'Tinnu', Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey. The Ayodhya police team has so far shown recovery of Rs 79,85,493 from the accused in the Ram temple donation theft case. The highest amount, Rs 20.40 lakh, was shown to have been found with Avinash Shukla. Six other accused had also stashed cash, however, the police team returned empty-handed only from Subhash Srivastava's house. According to police sources, Rs 12 lakh was found from Avinash Shukla's room located in Naka and the remaining of Rs 8 lakh was returned by his brother. Foreign currency of $900-1000 was also shown to have been recovered from Avinash Shukla. Other recoveries shown include Rs 18.07 lakh from Karunesh Pandey, Rs 16.82 lakh from Anukalp Mishra, Rs 14.25 lakh from Lavkush Mishra, Rs 10 lakh from Ram Shankar Yadav 'Tinnu', Rs 7.32 lakh from Rama Shankar Mishra and Rs 2 lakh from Manish Yadav. Nil recovery was shown from Subhash Srivastava's house. Families of the employees involved in the donation theft were also aware of the matter, the police sources claimed, pointing out Rs 8 lakh was handed over to the Trust by Avinash Shukla's brother. Indications of involvement have also been received from others during interrogation, he added....