Stepping up its investigation into the alleged embezzlement of Ram temple donations, Ayodhya Police on Sunday conducted simultaneous raids at the residences of all eight arrested persons.
Police teams, accompanied by local magistrates, carried out searches at the homes of the accused, including Lav Kush Mishra, Avinash Shukla and Ramashankar Yadav, sources told PTI.
The raids come two days after all eight accused were remanded to judicial custody till June 29 by a court in Ayodhya.
Police are expected to seek their custodial remand when they are produced before the court on Monday.
The eight accused -- Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav -- were associated with counting cash and valuables received as donations at the Ram Temple.
According to the prosecution, investigators have so far recovered Rs 79.85 lakh.
The case has been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to theft by servant, criminal breach of trust, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy, besides sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The FIR was registered on the recommendation of a preliminary report submitted by a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government after allegations of misappropriation of funds of the temple surfaced earlier this month.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, including the Congress, have intensified their attacks on the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe and the dissolution of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
The Congress also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the issue and alleged that the episode showed BJP leaders were not "true Ram bhakts" because they had failed to uphold Lord Ram's 'maryada' by not ordering an investigation themselves.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said that after using Ayodhya for their divisive politics, the BJP-RSS "looted" from donations of ordinary devotees and made a complete mockery of their sentiments.
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the alleged theft of temple offerings as condemnable and deeply concerning. He also pledged to develop Ayodhya into an unparalleled spiritual destination if his party returns to power.
He questioned how the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, who frequently visited Ayodhya, could have remained unaware of the alleged theft. He also asked what role the state's intelligence network had played.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal also took a swipe at Yogi Adityanath and said those accused of their involvement in the alleged embezzlement of Ram temple donations were also conspiring to unseat the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)