Ayodhya : An Ayodhya Court is scheduled to hear on Tuesday the police remand plea of Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav and retired bank employee Subhash Srivastava, who were arrested in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donations meant for the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple.
The hearing will take place before the court of Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Rajat Verma. Investigating Officer and Circle Officer (Ayodhya) Ashutosh Tiwari has sought a seven-day police remand of the two accused to facilitate further investigation into the case.
So far, the police have interrogated four other accused, Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey, during their police custody remand. Earlier on Monday, an Ayodhya court had extended the judicial custody of all eight accused in the Ram Mandir donation embezzlement case by 14 days. The accused appeared before the court through video conferencing and are scheduled to appear again on July 27.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government and the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on petitions seeking an independent, court-monitored probe into the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohan directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report, including details of its composition, and posted the matter for further consideration next Monday.
The apex court clarified that it was not examining the merits of the allegations at this stage and sought to be apprised of the progress of the investigation. The petitions before the Supreme Court seek an independent probe into allegations that donations made by devotees at the Ram Mandir were siphoned off by staff handling the counting of cash offerings.