Ayodhya Court Rejects Bail Pleas of Three Accused in Ram Temple Donation Theft Case
Court turns down pleas of three accused as hearings for the remaining suspects are scheduled over the next two days.
Ayodhya, Sep 21: A special court in Ayodhya on Monday rejected the bail pleas of three people arrested in connection with the alleged theft and embezzlement of donations made at the Ram temple.
Special Judge Rajat Verma of the Anti-Corruption Court heard the applications filed by Avinash Shukla, Manish Kumar Yadav and Ram Shankar Mishra, their lawyer Kul Shekhar Singh said.
The three accused were among eight people whose judicial custody was extended by the court until September 21. Their bail pleas were taken up for hearing on Monday.
The defence argued that provisions concerning corruption and criminal breach of trust by a public servant had been wrongly applied because the accused were not government employees. According to the lawyer, removing those provisions would leave offences carrying a maximum sentence of seven years, making the accused eligible for bail in the absence of special circumstances.
The defence also pointed out that the police had not yet filed a chargesheet in the case. However, after hearing arguments from both sides, the court declined to grant bail to the three accused.
Singh said the bail applications of three more accused will be heard on Tuesday, while the pleas of the remaining two are scheduled for Wednesday.
The case concerns alleged misappropriation of cash and valuables donated by devotees at the Ram temple. An FIR was registered on June 25 following a preliminary report submitted by a state government-appointed Special Investigation Team.
Eight people have been arrested and are currently in judicial custody. The accused include Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Karunesh Pandey, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav, besides the three whose bail pleas were rejected on Monday.
Most of those arrested were bank employees assigned to count donations collected at the temple. Srivastava was reportedly responsible for overseeing the donation-counting process, while Tinnu Yadav worked as a driver and was associated with former Shri Ram Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai.
The prosecution has said investigators recovered Rs 79.85 lakh during the probe.
The court had previously directed police to produce the case diary and investigation report after hearings on the bail applications were deferred several times because the investigating officer had not submitted the required documents.
