New Delhi, Sept. 21 -- The Special Investigation Team (SIT) examining missing donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya has identified 105 instances of theft, the Supreme Court was told on Monday. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said a chargesheet will be filed by September 25, the day the 90-day period from the first arrest ends and the accused could become eligible for default bail.

The count comes from a status report the SIT submitted in a sealed cover on September 16. Investigators studied hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, along with witness statements, digital receipts and bank deposit records, to trace how money was taken before it reached bank lockers. The report also explains that receipts for valuables are generated through software and the items are kept in a State Bank of India locker.

The figure is higher than the 70 instances listed in the interim report of the first SIT, headed by Vijay Vishwas Pant, which the state government formed on June 13. The second team was constituted on July 26 after the court stepped in. Its members are Inspector General of Police Kiran S, Deputy Inspector General Somen Barma, Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Grover and Additional Superintendent of Police Ritesh Kumar Singh.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana reviewed the report and expressed satisfaction with the probe. It declined a request from the petitioners for a copy, saying it did not want to take the matter out of the sessions judge's hands. The court said it would pass further orders if more investigation was needed.

Mehta told the bench that the 90 days would end on September 25. The chargesheet must be filed by then, he said, "otherwise, they (the accused) will get default bail." Under Section 187 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which replaced Section 167(2) of the CrPC, an accused becomes entitled to statutory bail if the chargesheet is not filed within the stipulated period.

The case began on June 7, when Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan 'Pawan' Pandey alleged that Rs 5 crore to Rs 7.5 crore was siphoned off from temple offerings. On June 26, eight employees who handled and counted donations were arrested: Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav 'Tinnu', Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Rama Shankar Mishra and Karunesh Pandey. They face charges including criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Police recovered Rs 79,85,493 from them, found in bathrooms, haystacks and cow dung cakes.

Trust officials Champat Rai and Anil Mishra have been removed from their posts. The trust now has a CEO, Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra (retired), who has said the system will be changed and future operations will improve. Petitioners, including RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, had sought a CBI probe and a forensic audit of the trust's finances.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.