The remand hearing of two accused in the Ayodhya Ram temple donation embezzlement case is to be held. At the same time, the Supreme Court has intervened in the case and asked for the status report of the investigation from the SIT. The judicial custody of all eight accused has been extended for 14 days.
Hearing today on police remand of accused
Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) [भारत]July 14 (ANI): An Ayodhya court is scheduled to hear on Tuesday the police remand petition of Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav and retired bank employee Subhash Srivastava, arrested in the case of alleged embezzlement of donations received for Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple. This hearing will be held in the court of Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Rajat Verma. Investigating Officer and Circle Officer (Ayodhya) Ashutosh Tiwari has sought seven-day police remand of both the accused for further investigation in the case.
Police have so far interrogated four other accused Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey during their police custodial remand. Earlier on Monday, an Ayodhya court had extended the judicial custody of all eight accused in the Ram temple donation embezzlement case by 14 days. The accused appeared in the court through video conferencing and are scheduled to appear again on July 27.
Supreme Court also took cognizance, sought report from SIT
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Uttar Pradesh government and Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on petitions seeking an independent, court-monitored probe into the alleged misuse of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohan directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report including details of its composition and posted the case for further consideration next Monday.
The top court clarified that it is not examining the merits of the allegations at this stage and wants to be informed about the progress of the investigation. The petitions before the Supreme Court have sought an independent probe into allegations that donations given by devotees to the Ram temple were embezzled by the staff counting the cash offerings. (ANI)
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