Ram Temple donation theft case: Bail hearing of two accused deferred to September 25

Representational image. File pic

The hearing on the bail applications of two accused in the alleged Ram Temple donation theft case, scheduled for Thursday, has been deferred to Friday, September 25. The date was deferred after their lawyer sought time to study the recently filed chargesheet, which runs to around 70,000 pages, a senior police officer said.

As per PTI, advocate Kul Shekhar Singh, representing the two accused, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar, alias Tinnu Yadav, while talking to the media, said that he sought Friday's date, as the chargesheet had now been filed and he wanted to study its contents before making arguments on the bail pleas, as per PTI. Singh also cited changes in the charges against the accused, with two sections having been dropped by police.

Accused to appear before the court via video conferencing

Singh said that both accused will appear before the court through video-conferencing from the local jail on Friday.

The chargesheet, filed by the Supreme Court-mandated Special Investigation Team (SIT), is around 70,000 pages long and lists 173 witnesses, while investigators have recovered video evidence relating to 105 instances of alleged cash theft or diversion during the counting of donations, a senior police officer told PTI on Thursday.

The officer said, "Details of the chargesheet and the evidence will be presented before the court at the next hearing," as per PTI.

The case concerns allegations that cash donations of devotees at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple were allegedly siphoned off during the counting process.

As per PTI, the SIT's investigation has not found evidence of pilferage during the subsequent transfer of counted money to banks.

The investigation relied on CCTV footage from the cash-counting facility, witness statements, banking and financial records, and a forensic audit.

Investigators also examined records relating to donated valuables and found no discrepancy involving more than 800 such articles, according to the chargesheet.

This comes in the backdrop of an earlier FIR file on June 25 where eight people were arrested on the basis of a preliminary SIT report.

The arrested are Tinnu Yadav, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra, and Subhash Srivastava, as per PTI.

Most of the accused are bank employees deployed for counting donations. Srivastava was allegedly supervising the counting process, while Tinnu Yadav worked as a driver and was a close aide of former Trust general secretary Champat Rai.

Rs 79.85 lakh allegedly recovered during investigation

The prosecution has said Rs 79.85 lakh allegedly linked to the suspected embezzlement was recovered during the investigation from all accused except Srivastava. The accused has been booked for criminal breach of trust and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A special court had earlier rejected the bail pleas of three accused - Avinash Shukla, Manish Kumar Yadav, and Ram Shankar Mishra - on Monday, followed by rejection of applications of Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey on Tuesday.

The bail pleas of Srivastava and Tinnu Yadav are now scheduled to come up on Friday, as per PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)