The judicial proceedings in the alleged Ram temple donation theft case hit a procedural delay after six of the eight accused lodged in jail failed to get copies of the voluminous chargesheet filed against them.
Taking cognizance, the special court on the same day had directed that one set of the chargesheet be provided to each accused to enable them to prepare for defence. Till the last hours of court proceedings, only two of the accused — Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu and Subhash Shrivastava — through their lawyers could obtain the documents. Once charges are framed, the trial will move to the next stage where the prosecution will be asked to produce witnesses and documentary evidence to prove the alleged theft in the counting section of the temple. The case pertains to alleged pilferage of cash offerings made by devotees at the Ram temple.
Special Judge, Prevention of Corruption Act, Rajat Verma, who was to frame charges against the accused on October 7, had to adjourn the matter to October 14 after defence counsel informed the court that police had not supplied them copies of the chargesheet. The investigating officer had filed a 36,039-page chargesheet on September 23 against the eight accused arrested for alleged theft and misappropriation of donation money offered at Ram temple. However, when the matter was taken up on October 7, it emerged that compliance was incomplete. The court then fixed October 14 for framing of charges.
The remaining six accused told the court that they were yet to receive copies, making it impossible to proceed with arguments on charge.
The accused, most of them deployed in the counting and handling of donations, were arrested earlier this year after CCTV footage and internal audit flagged discrepancies.
Given the sensitivity of the case, the investigation was conducted under supervision of senior officers and the final chargesheet runs into 36,039 pages. The Trust had lodged an FIR alleging that a portion of the offerings was being siphoned off before being deposited in the official account.
