2 min readLucknowUpdated: Jun 28, 2026 12:46 PM IST
Two days after arresting eight people on allegations of theft, misappropriation of cash, and embezzlement of funds and valuables donated for the Ram temple, the Ayodhya police simultaneously searched their houses on Sunday. The eight accused are currently in judicial custody.
“The searches were carried out as part of the investigation to gather evidence,” a senior police officer said.
The coordinated raids came a day before the accused were due to be produced before the court after their three-day judicial custody. Eight police teams, each comprising male and female officers, searched the residences where the accused had been living in Ayodhya. The police teams verified their addresses before simultaneously moving in.
The police earlier said they recovered Rs 79.8 lakh from seven of the eight arrested men—Avinash Shukla, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Ram Shankar Yadav, alias Tinnu Yadav, and Subhash Srivastav—during the investigation. No cash or valuables were recovered from Srivastava.
Raids outside Ayodhya planned
The police first reached the residence of prime suspect Tinnu Yadav, who worked as a driver for Champat Rai, who quit as general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and had been allegedly involved in the temple’s internal operations since the consecration of the Ram Lalla idol.
Another accused, Srivastav, a retired bank employee, reportedly supervised donation-counting shifts in the temple’s Pilgrim Facility Centre, while the remaining six counted cash and valuables offered by devotees.
The police have not disclosed what evidence, if any, was seized during Sunday’s searches. They are also planning to search the accused’s premises in their hometowns in districts outside Ayodhya.
