The alleged Ram temple donation embezzlement case took a dramatic turn on Monday, with the Faizabad Bar Association announcing a social boycott of the eight accused, demanding that Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra General Secretary Champat Rai and two other temple functionaries leave Ayodhya within three days, even as a local court extended the judicial custody of all eight arrested accused by another 14 days.
The accused were produced before an Ayodhya court after the expiry of their earlier remand. The court remanded them to judicial custody as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) continued its probe into the alleged diversion of cash donations offered by devotees at the Ram temple.
In a unanimous resolution passed at its general body meeting, the Faizabad Bar Association declared that none of its members would represent the eight accused in court. The association also demanded that Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao leave Ayodhya within three days, warning that lawyers would blockade the city if they failed to do so.
Bar president Kalika Prasad Mishra said any advocate choosing to appear for the accused would first have to deposit Rs 5 lakh per accused with the association. The body also resolved to seek registration of an FIR against the three temple functionaries under Section 156(3) of the BNSS and announced plans to approach the courts for a CBI investigation into the alleged financial irregularities.
Those guilty won’t be spared: BJP
Meanwhile, the BJP said the accused were facing both legal action and social boycott, asserting that those found guilty would not be spared.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that those who betray faith or defend such betrayal will never receive the blessings of the Hindu society.
"This is a powerful message from Hindu society. Those accused of looting in Ayodhya are not only facing the full force of the law, they are also facing social boycott," he said in a post on X on the Bar Association decision.
The eight accused, all associated with counting cash and valuables donated at the temple, remain at the centre of the investigation as officials scrutinise records, bank accounts and assets.
Also read: SC declined urgent hearing on Ram Mandir donations probe PIL
SC declines urgent hearing on plea
The Supreme Court on Monday declined an urgent hearing on a public interest litigation seeking a court-monitored probe, forensic audit and preservation of records relating to donations received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. The Bench directed that the matter be listed after the court reopens following the summer vacation.
When the matter was mentioned before a Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu, the PIL litigant pressed for an urgent listing, saying the allegations raised in the plea were “very serious” and expressing apprehensions over the manner in which the state government was dealing with the matter.
Questioning the urgency, the Justice Sundresh-led Bench asked, “What’s the urgency?” before directing that the plea be listed immediately after the court reopens post-summer vacation.
Probe tracks wealth trail after Rs 25-lakh house surfaces
Investigators are also probing the assets of the accused after documents surfaced showing that Lavkush Mishra allegedly acquired land and began constructing a house worth around Rs 25 lakh despite drawing a monthly salary of about Rs 12,000. The land was reportedly purchased in the name of his wife shortly after he joined the temple trust, with the SIT examining whether the assets were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The alleged embezzlement case has sparked widespread outrage, with the probe now extending beyond the missing donations to the financial dealings of those arrested as investigators attempt to uncover the full extent of the suspected racket.
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