Lucknow: A special court in Ayodhya on Monday remanded all the eight accused arrested in the alleged Ram Temple donation theft case to 14 days of judicial custody after the investigating agency chose not to seek their custodial remand.The development came as the police continued to gather documentary, financial and witness evidence.The accused were produced before Special Judge Rajat Verma of Special Court No 1 (Prevention of Corruption Act) through video conferencing.The hearing lasted nearly 30 minutes, following which the court extended their judicial custody till July 13. The accused will remain in the Ayodhya district jail till the next date of hearing.The accused include Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava.Before the hearing, the accused were brought to the prison’s video conferencing unit around 30 minutes before the court proceedings commenced.Ayodhya circle officer Ashutosh Tiwari, who is also the investigating officer in the case, was present during the proceedings.As part of the ongoing investigation, the police also produced a witness before the court. However, Tiwari declined to comment on the status of the investigation while leaving the court premises.Special public prosecutor Umesh Dubey said the accused were in judicial custody from June 26 to June 29. Since the investigating agency did not move an application seeking police custody, the court ordered that the accused be sent back to judicial custody for another 14 days.Meanwhile, family members of some of the accused, including Ravi Yadav, son of Tinnu Yadav, and Shani Yadav, brother of accused Manish Yadav, visited the Ayodhya district jail during the day.Investigators are examining bank records, documentary evidence, digital material and witness statements to trace the alleged diversion of devotees’ offerings and establish the roles of each accused.
