The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police has alleged in its chargesheet in the Ram Temple donation theft case that accused Avinash Shukla was caught on CCTV removing money from the counting room 85 times.
The voluminous chargesheet, filed before the Additional District Judge (Anti-Corruption), Ayodhya, puts the recovered proceeds of crime at more than Rs 79.85 lakh and details over 105 instances of alleged cash removal or concealment by counting staff.
An investigator associated with the Supreme Court-appointed SIT said the chargesheet also details bank accounts where the cash was allegedly parked before being used for illegal transactions.
The chargesheet, running into around 70,000 pages, names eight accused — Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Ramashankar Mishra, Manish Yadav, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Lavkush Mishra and Subhash Srivastava.
The accused face charges including criminal breach of trust and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The SIT cited CCTV footage, mobile chats, call detail records (CDRs), banking transactions and recoveries as digital evidence. According to the chargesheet, CDRs showed that the accused were in regular contact with one another during the period in which the alleged offences took place.
The chargesheet gives details of the alleged activities captured on CCTV. Karunesh Pandey was allegedly seen removing donation money twice and assisting others on 68 occasions. Manish Yadav was allegedly seen removing money 16 times and assisting in the alleged theft on 19 occasions.
Lavkush Mishra was allegedly seen removing money once and assisting others 52 times, while Anukalp Mishra was allegedly captured assisting co-accused 56 times. Ramashankar Mishra was allegedly seen removing donation money once.
The SIT also said ornaments were recovered from the accused and alleged that the embezzled money was used to purchase vehicles, land and houses. The chargesheet alleges that Anukalp Mishra’s father used the stolen donation money to purchase a house, while Lavkush Mishra allegedly spent Rs 43.43 lakh on a house and land.
A forensic audit was also cited in the chargesheet to examine the handling and depositing of donations, their movement through bank accounts and alleged illegal transactions. The auditors also examined the audited statements of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Trust general secretary Champat Rai, former Trust administrator Gopal Rao, former trustee Anil Mishra and interim General Secretary Krishna Mohan have been named as witnesses in the chargesheet, officials said.
The case was registered in June following a preliminary inquiry that flagged suspected diversion of donations. The SIT was headed by Lucknow Range Inspector General Kiran S, with Faizabad Range DIG Somen Barma and Ayodhya SSP Gaurav Grover as members.