Ayodhya (UP) | All eight accused arrested in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya were on Friday remanded in judicial custody till June 29, officials said.

Prosecution Officer K C Verma told reporters that the hearing was held before the Special Remand Magistrate Nivedita Singh due to Muharram holiday.

He said the accused would be produced before the court again on Monday, when the police are expected to seek their custodial remand.

He clarified that the police have not yet sought remand of the accused.

The eight arrested are Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav.

Verma said investigators have so far recovered Rs 79.85 lakh during the probe.

He said appropriate provisions relating to criminal breach of trust by public servants and the Prevention of Corruption Act had been invoked as the accused were public servants and were allegedly involved in embezzlement.

The prosecution officer said five to six of the arrested persons were bank employees who were deployed for counting cash donations received at the temple and were drawing salaries from the bank. He, however, declined to identify the individual bank employees at this stage of the investigation.

He said Tinnu Yadav was not a bank employee but worked as a driver, while Subhash Srivastava was in charge of the donation counting process.

The case relates to the alleged embezzlement of cash and valuables offered by devotees at the Ram temple. An FIR was registered after a preliminary report by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), and the investigation is being carried out by both the SIT and Ayodhya Police.