Ram Temple donation theft: CCTV shows accused Avinash Shukla removing money 85 times, says SIT charge sheet

CCTV footage cited in the Special Investigation Teams SIT charge sheet in the Ram Temple donation theft case allegedly shows accused Avinash Shukla removing money from the counting room 85 times according to the prosecution document filed against eight accusedThe voluminous charge sheet puts the recovered proceeds of crime PoC at over Rs 7985 lakh and flags more than 105 instances of cash removal or concealment by counting staff an investigator linked to the Supreme Courtappointed SIT of the Uttar Pradesh Police told news agency IANSThe charge sheet also details bank accounts where the cash was allegedly parked before being used for illegal transactions the investigator saidThe charge sheet was filed before the court of the Additional District Judge Anticorruption Ayodhya on Wednesday It invokes penal provisions related to criminal breach of trust against the eight accused who also face charges under the Prevention of Corruption ActThe accused have been identified as Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Ramashankar Mishra Manish Yadav Anukalp Mishra Avinash Shukla Karunesh Pandey Lavkush Mishra and Subhash SrivastavaCCTV footage cited as key evidenceThe 70000page chargesheet refers to CCTV footage mobile chats call detail records CDRs banking transactions and recoveries as digital evidenceAccording to the charge sheet CDRs of the accused indicated that they were in regular contact with each other during the alleged crime which was committed over several monthsThe document also records the number of times each accused was allegedly seen on CCTV removing donation money or assisting othersKarunesh Pandey was allegedly seen removing donation money twice and assisting others on 68 occasions the charge sheet statedManish Yadav was allegedly seen removing money 16 times and assisting others in the alleged theft on 19 occasions while Lavkush Mishra was allegedly seen removing money once and assisting others 52 timesAnukalp Mishra was allegedly seen assisting coaccused 56 times while Ramashankar Mishra was allegedly seen removing donation money once according to the charge sheetThe charge sheet alleges that Avinash Shukla was caught on camera removing money from the counting room 85 timesSIT alleges money used to buy property vehiclesThe charge sheet also states that ornaments were recovered from the accused and alleges that the embezzled money was used to purchase vehicles land and housesAccording to the document Anukalp Mishras father used the allegedly stolen donation money to purchase a house It also states that Luvkush Mishra spent Rs 4343 lakh on a house and landThe SIT chargesheet further refers to a forensic audit conducted to examine the handling of donations their deposits in banks and their alleged use in illegal transactionsThe auditors also examined the audited statements of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust according to officialsFormer trust general secretary Champat Rai exadministrator Gopal Rao and former trustee of the temple body Anil Mishra and interim General Secretary of the Trust Krishna Mohan have been named as witnesses in the charge sheet officials saidSIT investigation into alleged donation diversionThe SIT was headed by Lucknow Range Inspector General Kiran S with Faizabad Range DIG Somen Barma and Ayodhya SSP Gaurav Grover as membersThe case was registered in June after a preliminary inquiry flagged suspected diversion of donationsThe charge sheet has now placed the SITs findings including CCTV footage financial records digital communications and recoveries before the court in the case involving the eight accusedWith IANS inputs