The second Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya is set to revisit the criminal investigation conducted by the local police, with senior officers indicating that the eight arrests made so far will not be treated as the final word on the case.
Local police had arrested eight accused after June FIR
The arrests made so far will also be assessed individually on the basis of the evidence available against each accused. Constituted on July 26 following the Supreme Court ’s direction for an IPS-led investigation, the second SIT is headed by inspector general of police (Lucknow range) Kiran S and includes deputy inspector general (Ayodhya range) Somen Barma, Ayodhya senior superintendent of police Gaurav Grover and additional superintendent of police (Barabanki) Ritesh Kumar Singh. The local police began the criminal investigation after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust lodged an FIR at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station on June 25 against eight named accused and other unidentified people under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 306, 316(5), 317(4), 317(5), 61 and 3(5), relating to offences such as criminal breach of trust, cheating, theft and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Eight men– Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’, Manish Yadav, Subhash Srivastava, Avinash Shukla, Ramashankar Mishra, and Karunesh Pandey – were arrested on June 26 A senior officer said the team would not limit its scrutiny to the allegations already made against the arrested persons.
Senior police officers privy to the investigation said the team would independently examine the evidence already collected by the local police and assess whether it establishes the complete sequence of the alleged theft, from the counting of donations to the suspected removal and subsequent movement of cash or valuables. The second SIT will not proceed on the assumption that the earlier investigation has established the complete chain of events,” a senior police officer said.
“The material collected during the earlier investigation will be examined afresh.
