The eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged Ram Temple donation theft case are 'extremely scared' and are reportedly 'regretting' their actions, said Ayodhya Police sources on Saturday, as the probe continues to widen, revealing more details about how the embezzlement happened.
The accused, including Champat Rai's trusted aide Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, don't have a criminal record and investigators have found that they had no prior experience in 'planning or executing' such a theft.
Sources have also told India TV that investigators are trying to find if the accused were 'instigated' by anyone in carrying out the theft and who is the real mastermind. However, the police have not been able to who the kingpin is.
The accused -- Tinnu Yadav, Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, and Subhash Srivastava -- remain in 14-day judicial custody.
SIT visits Ayodhya again
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, visited Ayodhya again on Saturday, questioned Rai, and recorded the statements of Gopal Rao and Anil Mishra before returning to Lucknow.
Sources have said that the Ayodhya Police is also considering formally recording Rao and Mishra's statements. It still needs to record statements of 70 to 80 people, including members of the temple trust, temple staff and bank officials.
The police have also got the custody remand of Avinash Shukla, who is one of the key accused. According to the police, investigators have recovered key evidence from his house in Ayodhya, which is why officials were seeking his custody.
Additionally, the police have received court permission to question five of the arrested accused: Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Tinnu Yadav, Karunesh Pandey and Manish Yadav.
SIT to re-audit temple trust's accounts of past five years
As the probe widens, the SIT is also looking to conduct a re-audit of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust's accounts for the past five years amid fears of large-scale irregularities. The re-audit will cover construction-related expenditure as well as jewellery and other gold and silver items received as donations.
Investigators have also recovered cash worth Rs 20.39 lakh from Shukla, Rs 18.07 lakh from Karunesh Pandey, Rs 16.82 lakh from Anukalp Mishra, Rs 14.25 lakh from Lav Kush Mishra, Rs 7.32 lakh from Ramashankar Mishra and Rs 1 lakh from Tinnu Yadav.
They have also recovered around 11 grams of gold, about 375 grams of silver and USD 1,121 during the investigation.
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