Ram Temple donation theft caught on CCTV 105 times, charge sheet to be filed before Sept 25
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Ram Temple donation theft caught on CCTV 105 times, charge sheet to be filed before Sept 25")
The apex court bench directed that a copy of the chargesheet be placed before it after it is filed in the trial court. Photograph: (ANI)
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta shared details from the Special Investigation Team’s status report and informed the apex court that the SIT investigation is nearing completion and the charge sheet will be filed by September 25. All the available evidence was also presented to the court.
The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that as many as 105 instances of donation theft at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya were captured on the temple’s CCTV cameras and that a charge sheet would be filed before September 25.
The disclosure came before a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, which was hearing a batch of petitions seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged scam.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta shared details from the Special Investigation Team’s status report and informed the apex court that the statutory 90-day period from the first arrest would expire on September 25.
The Solicitor General informed the court that the SIT investigation is nearing completion and the charge sheet will be filed by September 25.
“Ninety days from the date of the first arrest are going to be over on September 25, so we will have to file the chargesheet, otherwise they (the accused) will get default bail,” Mehta told the court.
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The bench directed the magistrate to deal with the chargesheet in accordance with law. It also perused a detailed status report submitted by the SIT in a sealed cover.
The top court had earlier directed the SIT to complete its investigation expeditiously and take it to a logical conclusion, while asking for a progress report in a sealed cover.
According to the status report, CCTV footage, mobile data and call detail records form key evidence in the case.
The SIT report stated that 105 incidents of donation theft had been identified through temple CCTV footage, providing strong evidence against the accused, some of whom are identifiable on camera. Besides, witness statements and other materials have also been collected.
The bench also directed that a copy of the chargesheet be placed before it after it is filed in the trial court.
The court was informed about the number of arrests made so far, and the available evidence was also presented to the court. The Supreme Court has taken all the given information on record.
The report said that receipts for valuables are generated using software, and the items are stored in a State Bank of India (SBI) locker.
The petitioners requested a copy of the SIT report, but the Supreme Court declined the request.
The three-member SIT, headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, was constituted by the state government on June 13 at the request of the Trust, before the Supreme Court intervened in the matter.
The panel had submitted its preliminary report to the state government on June 23, making several stringent recommendations.
The FIR named eight people: Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu, and other unidentified individuals as accused. All of them have been arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
