Police on Sunday conducted searches at the residences of all the eight accused, arrested in connection with alleged misappropriation of donations and offerings at the Ram Mandir.
This comes after the eight individuals were sent to three-day judicial custody on Friday. They will stay in jail till June 29 and will be produced before the city court again on Monday.
Krishna Nand Tiwari, a neighbour of accused Anukalp Mishra, said: "Action is being taken, brother (Mishra) or whoever is involved in this, whoever has committed theft or wrongdoing, they should be given the strictest punishment. They should be ashamed of their act, especially since it is related to God. They have betrayed the faith of crores of devotees."
About the accused, he said: "Though he (Mishra) didn't come across as such a kind of person, but one can never gauge anybody's intentions."
Another neighbour, Anurag, said he had known Mishra for around a year. "He was a person of good nature; we used to greet each other whenever we met. But I don't know if he had any malicious intention," he told IANS.
Accused Tinnu Yadav's neighbour Tara Devi said: "Tinnu is like a brother. Searches at his home will only take place when all the neighbours are around."
Asserting that Yadav was a good person, she claimed: "He is being framed."
A total of eight accused have been booked for alleged theft at the temple, and all were subsequently arrested. The FIR was registered at Ayodhya Kotwali police station on Thursday, based on a complaint filed by Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Those named in the case include Ramshankar Yadav (alias Tinnu), who is associated with temple management; Trust employees Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, and Avinash Shukla; and retired bank employee Subhash Srivastava.
The filing of the case came soon after a three-member SIT flagged several irregularities at multiple levels in its preliminary report.
The police state that the entire episode of alleged theft will be uncovered based on interrogation of the accused and CCTV-based evidence. If more names are revealed in the investigation, action will be taken against them as well.
The preliminary probe has highlighted key roles played by each accused at various levels. The role of Ramshankar Yadav, alias Tinnu Yadav, is particularly under increased scrutiny.
--IANS
