The primary suspects in the Ram temple donation theft case, Ramashankar "Tinnu" Yadav and his nephew Manish Yadav, were taken into police custody on Saturday and transported to the Police Lines for a mandatory medical examination, according to sources.
​The transition to police custody follows a Friday ruling by a special anti-corruption court, which granted investigators a 39-hour remand of the two key accused.
While law enforcement had initially requested a seven-day custody window.
According to police sources, investigators questioned the duo in jail on Thursday before moving the remand application, after obtaining fresh leads during the probe.
Tinnu, who was considered close to former Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai, allegedly supervised the temple's donation boxes, while Manish was involved in counting the offerings, officials said.
Police had earlier recovered Rs 1 lakh from Tinnu's residence and Rs 2 lakh from Manish's house.
Officials said that during the remand, investigators are expected to take the two accused to various locations to question them about the alleged theft, trace more stolen cash and valuables, and verify properties allegedly purchased using the siphoned-off money.
Before seeking the custody of Tinnu and Manish, police had interrogated six other accused on custodial remand.
Investigators also submitted in the court cash, jewellery and documents related to properties recovered earlier this week at the instance of former bank employees Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar Mishra, who were questioned earlier.
The alleged theft of donations offered at the Ram temple surfaced in the first week of June and has so far led to the arrest of eight persons and the resignation of two senior functionaries from the Trust.
Opposition parties have said that they will raise the donation theft issue during the Monsoon session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin on July 20.
(With inputs from PTI)
