Lucknow, June 16 -- Two days after the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations about the embezzlement of donations, the team reached Ayodhya on Monday and began its probe from the cash-counting room at the Ram temple complex. The SIT conducted its probe for around eight hours and left the Ram Mandir complex after 10.30pm. The three-member probe team stayed back in Ayodhya for the night. According to people familiar with the matter, the SIT has decided to set up its camp office in the Ram temple complex so that the probe can be carried out smoothly and completed within schedule. Earlier in the day, the team entered the Ram temple complex from gate number 11 at 2:53 p.m. in separate vehicles and went straight to the cash-counting room. The SIT sought details of the staff engaged by Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for counting cash since the temple opened for devotees on January 23, 2024, a day after the formal inauguration. The SIT also examined the vault where cash was locked after counting and the register where daily cash counts were recorded. According to people familiar with the matter, the SIT also examined all the CCTV data boxes and retrieved the footage to examine the cash -counting process. The SIT also inquired whether the CCTV footage data was ever deleted and for how long its data is maintained. The team sought the names and addresses of staff posted over the past few years for cash counting, along with a list of trustees. The team will then question them. The SIT members are Lucknow divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, inspector general of police (Lucknow range) Kiran S and special secretary (Finance) Neel Ratan. The SIT will conduct a thorough inquiry into the entire matter and submit its preliminary report to the government in seven days and the final report in the next 15 days. According to people familiar with the matter, the SIT team will also probe the financial condition of the cash-counting staff after they were engaged by the Trust. Whether the staff is related to or in close proximity to any Trust member is also an issue for investigation. The initial report will likely focus on the alleged theft from offering amounts, monitoring of counting, and accountability of those responsible, according to those in the know. However, the scope could be expanded. A large section of the Trust employees, however, is pleased with the probe. "As the probe has begun, those behind the scam and their so-called mentors will be exposed," said an employee of the Trust. Many employees on the Trust's payroll are said to be unhappy with the disparity in wages that the Trust pays. The staff on the Trust's payroll was getting wages between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 per month while the Trust was paying Rs 28,000 per month to outsourced staff. "Despite assurance by the Trust, wages were never increased," said an employee of the Trust. Devotees said that whoever is involved in the theft should be given stern punishment so that no one can carry out such an act again. Amid the SIT's arrival in Ayodhya for the probe, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai was reported to be unwell. Champat Rai is suffering from a cold along with elevated blood sugar levels and taking rest, according to people familiar with the matter who added that senior Trust member Anil Mishra has gone to Kerala for medical consultation....