21:34
The accused in the Ram temple donation theft used forged receipts to collect money from devotees, police said as the investigation progressed on Wednesday.
Police on Wednesday took three accused -- Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey -- into custody for questioning after a local court granted a remand.
During their interrogation, police recovered an old forged receipt book resembling the Trust's earlier donation receipts, sources said.
According to sources, the three accused told investigators that they and another accused Tinnu Yadav had used the fake receipts initially to collect money from devotees who wished to make donations to the temple.
The receipts closely resembled the original ones and carried the logo of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, making it difficult for the donors to detect. They allegedly discontinued the receipt book after the Trust shifted to an online receipt system.
A week ago, police had seized a donation box -- labelled "Ramrajya Kosh" and bearing an active QR code for making payments -- from a yoga centre in Ayodhya, where the prime accused Avinash Shukla had allegedly been staying for the last 10 years. -- PTI
