LUCKNOW A special anti-corruption court in Faizabad on Tuesday granted the UP Police one-day custody remand for three of the eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donations from the Ram temple.
The court authorised the remand for Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey, rejecting the police’s request for a seven-day remand. The three accused will be brought out of jail on Wednesday morning for interrogation. The remand period will start at 6am and end at 11pm as the accused have to be sent back into judicial custody before the date changes, sources said.
Investigators are expected to question the trio on the alleged diversion of cash and valuables offered by devotees, confront them with evidence collected so far, verify fresh leads and reconstruct the sequence of events surrounding the alleged offence. The interrogation is also expected to focus on the role of each accused, the movement of the allegedly misappropriated donations and possible recoveries.
The latest custody remand comes days after another arrested accused, Avinash Shukla, was taken into 24-hour police custody as part of the investigation. On July 3, a police team took Shukla from Ayodhya district jail and interrogated him before taking him to multiple locations in Ayodhya and later to his native Pratapgarh district to verify his disclosures and recover allegedly misappropriated cash and valuables.
As part of the reconstruction of events, investigators took Shukla to a yoga centre in Ayodhya’s Kaushalpuri locality where he had stayed for some time. They examined the premises, questioned him about his activities there and attempted to corroborate his statements.
According to police sources, Shukla was confronted with evidence collected during the investigation and questioned about the movement of the allegedly stolen cash and valuables, disposal of the proceeds and the possible involvement of other persons. Investigators also pursued leads suggesting that part of the cash and gold and silver ornaments offered by devotees may have been concealed at different locations.
The one-day custody of the three co-accused is expected to help investigators cross-check Shukla’s disclosures, establish the sequence of events and identify any additional evidence or recoveries linked to the alleged donation misappropriation case.
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