The police reportedly registered a case of theft against eight persons at Ram Janmabhoomi police station in Ayodhya on Thursday evening.
A majority of those who have been booked were involved in counting the daily offerings at the Ram temple and allegedly stole cash and other valuables from there during duty hours. All of them were from humble backgrounds but bought expensive properties in Ayodhya and Lucknow after getting the job at the shrine.
Sources in the police said that the special investigation team had mentioned the names of the accused persons in its report submitted to the chief minister’s office on Wednesday.
The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint by Srikrishna Mohan, a member of the temple management committee. He has named Ram Shankar Yadav aka Tinu, Luvkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Subhash Srivastava and three others. There are some unidentified accused also. Many of the named accused are considered close to the members of the Sri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
“They may be arrested anytime,” said a police officer.
Earlier during the day, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh appeared before the SIT in Lucknow and purportedly furnished evidence that the Ram temple trust in Ayodhya had misused money donated by devotees to benefit local BJP leaders.
The Rajya Sabha member has since last year been alleging that the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had bought land for its office and museum from some local BJP leaders' families, paying them "1,000 times" the actual price.
The SIT has, however, been formed to probe more recent allegations — by Singh and others — about the physical theft of cash and valuables given by devotees to the temple in the form of daily offerings and donations. Officials have said the SIT’s ambit is likely to be widened to cover the land deals and other allegations.
Sources said Singh had provided documents purportedly related to the land deals but didn’t substantiate his allegation that the trust was directly involved in the theft of daily offerings and donations.
After appearing before the SIT, Singh told reporters: "The temple trust purchased land at inflated rates from BJP leaders and their family members who had bought these same plots a few months earlier at throwaway prices. I have given the evidence to Vijay Vishwas Pant, the SIT head. He has promised action…. Let’s see when he acts."