Ayodhya Police, which is separately probing the alleged theft and embezzlement of funds and valuables donated to the Ram Temple, is planning to seek custody of the arrested accused for questioning following the seizure of documents and other material evidence from their homes.
Police have also widened the scope of their investigation to determine whether any of the accused, or their relatives, recently acquired properties or vehicles as they seek to trace the stolen money and valuables.
The investigation has also expanded to include scrutiny of bank accounts of the accused and those of their close associates and family members.
Police have also decided to question the owner and director of the Varanasi-based company engaged by the SBI to carry out the cash-counting process as part of the ongoing inquiry.
So far, police have arrested eight persons – Avinash Shukla, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, and Subhash Srivastav – in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donation money.
On Monday, they were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a local court.
As per a PTI report, cash recoveries made so far from the accused include Rs 20.39 lakh from Avinash Shukla, Rs 18.07 lakh from Karunesh Pandey, Rs 16.82 lakh from Anukalp Mishra, Rs 14.25 lakh from Lavkush Mishra, Rs 7.32 lakh from Ramashankar Mishra, and Rs 1 lakh from Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu.
Additionally, the police recovered approximately 11 grams of gold, about 375 grams of silver, and USD 1,121 during the investigation, sources told PTI.
The families of the accused, meanwhile, continued to insist that their relatives have been wrongly implicated. They told mediapersons that the arrested men had not displayed any sudden or unexplained increase in wealth that would warrant suspicion.
Tinnu Yadav’s nephew, Raj Kumar Yadav, dismissed the theft allegations as “false propaganda”, denying claims that his maternal uncle had amassed the properties under scrutiny.
“To the best of my knowledge, the last property my maternal uncle purchased was a hostel in 2008. I have no information about the rest. The police are investigating the matter, and I hope everything will become clear,” said 28-year-old Raj Kumar.
After searching the homes of all eight accused on Sunday, police returned on Wednesday to the residences of two of them — Lavkush Mishra and Anukalp Mishra.
A senior police officer said the team revisited the houses to record statements of family members and question them about the documents and other materials seized during the previous searches.
Sources familiar with the investigation said the relatives were unable to provide any significant information about the material recovered during the searches, the movements of the accused, or their alleged association with other accused. “In view of the evidence being examined and the information still being verified, we are planning to seek police custody remand of all eight accused so they can be questioned in detail,” the officer said.
The officer added that police would use the custody remand to confront the accused with the evidence collected so far and cross-examine them as part of the investigation. On Tuesday, police questioned one of the accused, Avinash Shukla, inside the jail after obtaining permission from the court.
All eight accused arrested in the case are being kept at the Ayodhya district jail. Jail officials said they have been housed under heightened security arrangements to ensure their safety and prevent any confrontation among them.
PTI adds: In another development, police recovered a donation box labelled “Ramrajya Kosh”, bearing a Paytm QR code, from a yoga centre in Ayodhya where the accused Avinash Shukla had been residing for the past 10 years, sources stated.
Sundar Lal, a yoga instructor at the centre, told PTI that the police had first raided the premises on June 5, inspected the CCTV footage, and searched the room where Shukla stayed. “The police arrived with Avinash and required us to vacate the premises where he was living. After they left, we learned that Rs 5 lakh had been recovered from his possession,” Lal said.
The probe has also covered the role of around 400 private security personnel deployed at the temple complex. Police are scrutinising their duty rosters, CCTV footage, entry and exit records to ascertain whether security protocols were violated or whether anyone facilitated the alleged embezzlement.
Police vehicles outside the yoga centre linked to Avinash Shukla, an arrested accused, during a raid in Ayodhya on Wednesday. (ANI) 
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