Eight persons named in an FIR over the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Ram temple in Ayodhya have been arrested, senior officials said on Friday.
The FIR, lodged at the instance of Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, follows recommendations made in the preliminary report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the allegations.
Senior officials said all eight persons named in the FIR have been arrested and are being questioned as part of the investigation.
Those named in the FIR -- Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu -- were associated with the process of counting cash and valuables received as donations at the temple, an official said.
"All the accused were in Ayodhya itself and were arrested late Thursday night. Further questioning is underway. Police are preparing to present them before a magistrate," a senior official told PTI here.
The case has been registered under sections 306 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 317 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, among other provisions.
The controversy over the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Ram temple surfaced on June 7. The Uttar Pradesh government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on June 13 at the request of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which submitted its preliminary report to the government on June 23.
An FIR was registered on the night of June 25 based on the SIT's recommendations, and Ayodhya police confirmed the arrests of the accused on Friday.
The names of some of the accused had been circulating on social media ever since Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav raised the issue on June 7, after which it snowballed into a major political controversy, with the VHP and the Aam Aadmi Party also demanding registration of a criminal case.Subhash Chandra Srivastava was reportedly in charge of the cash-counting staff, while the other accused were involved in counting cash, valuables or were associated with the process in different capacities.
Among those named in the FIR is Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, who is said to be a former driver of the Trust's general secretary Champat Rai. Tinnu denied any role in cash counting and blamed unnamed "jealous people" for the allegations.
Other accused, including Lavkush Mishra and Anukalp Mishra, were also allegedly involved in counting cash and valuables received as donations at the temple. PTI's attempts to contact senior Trust officials, including Champat Rai and Anil Mishra, for comment were unsuccessful.
The three-member SIT was headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant.
A senior official said the SIT had made "strong and strict" recommendations in its preliminary report submitted to the state government earlier this week and asserted that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was "very serious" about the matter, adding that anyone found guilty would face stringent action.
Opposition leaders have described the FIR as an "eyewash", alleging that it does not fix accountability on senior functionaries of the Trust, including general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra.