Ram temple offering theft: 8 hours of intensive investigation by SIT, long interrogation of bank officers and trustees, documents seized

The investigation into the Ayodhya Ram temple offering theft case is continuously deepening. A three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) conducted a thorough investigation in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex for about eight hours on Friday and verified the financial transactions related to the purchase of land for the Trust. During this, officials of various banks and bank personnel involved in cash counting were interrogated, while internal audit records of previous years and other important documents were also closely examined. SIT has also taken some important documents into its possession.

During the investigation, property details related to Trust General Secretary Champat Rai, Trustee Dr. Anil Mishra and Administrator Gopal Rao were also examined. After the state government extended the investigation deadline till July 15, the SIT has further widened the scope of its investigation.

State Bank employees counting cash also interrogated

According to sources, the SIT verified the payments made through various banks for the land purchase and also made detailed inquiries of the State Bank employees involved in the cash counting process. The investigation is also being done to see whether the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was violated. For this reason, the banking process and the role of the concerned officials have also come under scrutiny.

Now the heat of investigation seems to be reaching the employees associated with the darshan system also. Sources say that three riders associated with the wheelchair service and some security personnel of Darshan Cell are also on the radar of SIT. Information has come to light that one of the riders took Rs 2 lakh from accused Avinash Shukla to buy the vehicle. The investigating agencies suspect that these people used to play the role of ‘carriers’ for the personnel involved in cash counting. Information about some of their properties in Ayodhya is also being collected.

The SIT also interrogated the trust employee involved in the maintenance of the jewellery, while also taking into its possession documents related to some alleged irregularities found during the investigation of old audit records.