Ayodhya, Sept. 18 -- The judicial custody of all eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple here was on Friday extended till September 21, their lawyer said.
The order was passed by Special Judge Rajat Verma of the Anti-Corruption Court in Ayodhya which will hear the case on September 21, advocate Kul Shekhar Singh, who represents the accused, told news agency.
The court also directed police to produce the case diary and the investigation report at the next hearing, Singh said.
The eight accused, who were associated with the temple's donation-counting process, were arrested after an FIR was lodged on June 25 following a preliminary report by a state government-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT). They are currently lodged in jail.
The accused are Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav.
Singh said the hearing on the bail applications of the accused was repeatedly deferred as the investigating officer failed to submit the investigation report before the court. The court has now directed the investigating officer to submit the report along with the case diary.
Singh said that if the police failed to produce the case diary at the next hearing, he would move an application seeking bail for the accused.
The case relates to the alleged embezzlement of cash and valuables offered by devotees at the Ram temple. Investigators have so far recovered Rs 79.85 lakh, according to
the prosecution.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.