- Lakhs stolen from Ayodhya Ram temple donation boxes were spent on lavish gifts
- Avinash Shukla, accused in the theft, allegedly confessed to spending Rs 19 lakh
- Shukla used stolen funds for brother's wedding and gifted an iPhone to his girlfriend
Lakhs in cash stolen from donation boxes at the Ram temple in Ayodhya were used to buy lavish gifts by an accused for his family, friends, and girlfriend, according to sources.
These included an expensive iPhone and a wedding bash, sources said, citing an alleged confession linked to Avinash Shukla, one of the eight counting staff facing donation theft charges.
Shukla allegedly made big revelations during his interrogation as cops try to establish a money trail after the theft that has shocked millions of devotees.
While the stolen amount is estimated to be in crores, Shukla admitted to spending about Rs 19 lakh on his family and friends, besides on himself, sources said.
This included a lavish wedding for his brother. Shukla spent about Rs 6 lakh on the wedding and gave Rs 5-6 lakh to another brother, they said. Besides, sources said, the accused gifted an iPhone to his girlfriend and transferred another Rs 2.5 lakh to her.
Police documents accessed by NDTV had earlier shown that Shukla took home about Rs 20 lakh, the highest amount pocketed by any of the suspects.
The investigators are now conducting a thorough probe into these financial transactions, bank accounts, and related assets to ascertain a clear trail of funds to frame the charges.
