NEW DELHI: The eight accused in the Ayodhya Ram Temple donation case may find it tough to find a lawyer for their defence in the local court, news agency PTI reported, citing local legal practitioners.President of the Faizabad Bar Association Kalika Mishra said that a final decision on the unanimous refusal to take up their case will be taken at the general body meeting expected to be held on Monday.“Our sentiments have been hurt by the theft of temple offerings. The lawyers of Faizabad have agreed not to plead on behalf of the arrested accused. In this matter, a decision will be taken by the Bar Association president and the general body of the Bar. After this, the further strategy will be prepared,” Bar Association secretary Shailendra Jaiswal told PTI.Advocate Vivek Kumar Singh remarked that the police should not have presented such social criminals before the magistrate under heavy security arrangements. “Like in West Bengal, they should have first been among the public,” he said.“Due to the act of a few people, residents of Ayodhya have got a bad name across the whole world. Stern action should be taken against these accused by adopting the bulldozer policy,” senior advocate Rajendra Chaudhary said.This comes two days after the eight accused were sent to judicial custody till June 29 following the registration of an FIR.The eight accused — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lav Kush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ram Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar alias Tinnu Yadav — were associated with counting cash and valuables received as donations at the Ram Temple.According to the prosecution, investigators have recovered Rs 79.85 lakh so far. The case has been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to theft by a servant, criminal breach of trust, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy, along with sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.The FIR was registered following the recommendation of a preliminary report submitted by a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government after allegations of misappropriation of temple donations surfaced earlier this month.Earlier in the day, police conducted simultaneous raids at the residences of all eight people arrested in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram Temple, police sources said.Police teams, accompanied by local magistrates, carried out searches at the homes of the accused, including Lav Kush Mishra, Avinash Shukla and Ramashankar Yadav, the sources said.The raids came two days after all eight accused were remanded to judicial custody till June 29 by a court in Ayodhya. Police are expected to seek their custodial remand when they are produced before the court on Monday.
