Ayodhya | The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed a legal aid defence counsel for the accused in the alleged Ram temple donation embezzlement case.
The move came after the Faizabad Bar Association boycotted the people arrested and refused to represent them.
Kulshekhar Singh, an ex-joint director of the Department of Prosecution, will begin appearing for the accused in court from next week.
Singh told PTI he is not a member of the Faizabad Bar and was therefore free to represent the accused. It also decreed that violators will be fined Rs 5 lakh and terminated from bar membership.
"The government appointed me as legal aid defence counsel last week. Since I am not a member of the Faizabad Bar Association, there is no restriction on my appearing for the accused. I am likely to start pleading the case from next week," he said.
A special anti-corruption court in Faizabad, meanwhile, extended the judicial custody of eight accused in the Ram temple donation theft case by 14 days after the previous term ended on Monday.
The accused were produced before the court of Additional District Judge Pratibha Narayan through video conferencing, and sent to judicial custody till July 27.
The controversy over the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple erupted after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged massive theft of cash donations and other valuables on June 7.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government submitted its preliminary findings on June 23, following which an FIR was registered on June 25 and eight persons associated with the temple's donation-counting process were arrested.
The investigation has since been expanded, with police recording the statements of several persons, including Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai.
On July 2, lawyers of the Faizabad Bar Association took out a protest march and submitted a complaint seeking registration of an FIR against Rai and trust members Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao.
No FIR has yet been filed against the three, a lawyer said.
"We had given the police two weeks to lodge an FIR against Rai, Mishra and Rao. Today, a delegation of the Faizabad Bar Association visited the police station regarding the FIR. The officers there informed us that the FIR has not been lodged," Aftab Khan, a bar member, said.
Khan is also a member of a 21-member committee of lawyers formed to plead the case against Rai, Mishra and Rao.
