Eight people have been arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police after the special investigation team submitted a report to the state government on the basis of oral, documentary and electronic evidence. Two of them — Anukalp Mishra and Lavkush Mishra — are related to each other and also to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust member Anil Mishra, according to locals in Ayodhya. Another two people — Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’ and Manish Yadav — are also related.
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Prosecution officer KC Verma said five to six of the arrested were bank employees who were deployed for counting cash donations received at the temple and were drawing salaries from the bank. He said they were outsourced employees engaged by the State Bank of India (SBI). HT takes a look:
Ram Shankar Yadav ‘Tinnu’:The 55 to 60-year-old is a close aide-cum-chauffeur of Champat Rai, who was appointed general secretary of the Trust in 2020. He hails from Ayodhya. His father ran a small tea shop near Naya Ghat, and he worked as an auto and tempo driver in the town during the mid-1990s. He became part of the temple management after the inauguration of the temple in January 2024 and was involved in security, counting, and transportation of offerings, said Trust officials.
Manish Yadav:Manish Yadav is the son of Ram Shankar Yadav’s younger brother Balram Yadav. Manish was involved in the donation-counting process at the temple, the officials said.
Anukalp Mishra:Anukalp Mishra, a resident of Basawan village in Ayodhya’s Milkipur area, is related to Anil Mishra and is the brother-in-law of co-accused Lavkush Mishra. He was part of the daily donation counting process.
Lavkush Mishra:Lavkush Mishra was related to Anil Mishra and is the brother-in-law of Anukalp Mishra. He was part of the donation-counting process at the temple.
Subhash Srivastava:A former bank employee, Srivastava was incharge of cash counting at the Ram Mandir and supervised the process.
Karunesh Pandey:Karunesh Pandey allegedly manipulated financial receipts related to incoming donations while working as part of the team responsible for handling and counting the cash and valuables offered by devotees in the donation boxes.
Ramashankar Mishra: Ramashankar Mishra has no relation with Lavkush Mishra or Anukalp Mishra. He was part of the team responsible for handling, sorting, and counting the cash and valuables offered by devotees, the Trust official said. He was caught on CCTV footage siphoning off donation money during the cash-sorting process, said a police officer.
Avinash Shukla:He was part of the team responsible for handling and counting the cash and valuables received as donations at Ram Mandir, the police officer said.
