Ram temple: Accused's wife gets a week to explain 'unauthorised' construction

The Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) has granted an additional week to Supriya Mishra, wife of Ram temple donation theft case accused Luv Kush Mishra, to submit documents relating to an under-construction house in Ayodhya's Saadatganj area.

The development comes amid growing criticism of the investigation, with Opposition parties and several commentators alleging that the probe has largely targeted lower-level employees while senior trust functionaries have escaped criminal scrutiny.

Criticism has also centred on the continued silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had announced in Parliament in February 2020 that the Union cabinet had approved the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to oversee the construction and management of the temple following the Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict.

While eight people have been arrested since the FIR was registered on 25 June, all are employees, contractors or others directly involved in handling donations. Critics have questioned why no senior office-bearer has been named as an accused despite the trust's top leadership coming under scrutiny.

Though former general-secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra resigned after the controversy erupted, neither has been arrested. The Congress has accused the government of shielding those at the top while making "small fry" the face of the investigation, and has repeatedly asked why the prime minister has not publicly addressed the controversy.

ADA secretary Rajesh Mishra said Supriya Mishra had originally been asked to furnish documents by 29 July to establish the legality of the property. On Thursday, however, she sought more time to gather the required papers, and the authority agreed to extend the deadline. The authority had issued a notice to her on 2 July over the alleged unauthorised construction.

According to ADA sources, the house is being built in Banvirpur village in Sohawal tehsil on land purchased in Supriya Mishra's name. Construction allegedly began without obtaining the mandatory approval from the development authority.

The alleged embezzlement of Ram temple donations surfaced in early June, prompting the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on 13 June. The SIT submitted its preliminary report on 23 June, following which an FIR was registered on 25 June.

Eight people — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Luv Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav — were subsequently arrested.

Following directions from the Supreme Court, the Uttar Pradesh government has since reconstituted the SIT, which is now headed by inspector-general Kiran S. The top court has also directed the SIT to submit periodic status reports and include a forensic audit expert as part of the investigation.

With PTI inputs