Banaskantha (Gujarat) [India], July 14 (ANI): After alleged donation thefts in Ayodhya Ram Temple and Badrinath Dham, old CCTV footage of an alleged theft in the donation room at Ambaji Temple, Gujarat, surfaced. Banaskantha Collector Mihir Pravinkumar Patel said that the police had arrested three temple employees accused of stealing cash.

Addressing the row over the two-month-old CCTV footage from Ambaji Temple, the Banaskantha Collector said that the Temple Trust had lodged a complaint after which the police initiated a probe and held three accused.

He added that since then, the Trust has come up with a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the counting of temple donations to strengthen security and transparency.

Collector Patel told reporters, 'The Ambaji Temple Trust conducts the counting of temple donations every Tuesday. Around two months ago, during one such donation-counting process, it was discovered that a temple employee had allegedly stolen a bundle of cash while the counting was in progress. As soon as the incident came to light, the Ambaji Temple Trust immediately lodged an FIR. Acting swiftly, the police initiated an investigation and arrested 3, all of whom were employees of the temple. The services of all three employees were terminated with immediate effect.'

'To further strengthen the security and transparency of the donation-counting process, the Trust has also introduced a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the counting of temple donations,' he added.

This comes amid a nationwide row over the alleged donation embezzlement in the Ayodhya Ram Temple. Today, an Ayodhya Court is scheduled to hear the police remand plea of Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav and retired bank employee Subhash Srivastava, who were arrested in connection with the embezzlement case.

So far, the police have interrogated four other accused, Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra and Karunesh Pandey, during their police custody remand.

The Supreme Court has also intervened, and on Monday issued notice to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government and the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust seeking response on pleas demanding an independent, court-monitored probe into the alleged misappropriation of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohan also directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to place a status report before it. The Court has sought details on the composition of the SIT.

Meanwhile, the SIT probing the Badrinath donation theft case questioned the Temple Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sohan Singh Rangad and his Personal Assistant, Atul Dimri, to probe gaps in oversight. Simultaneously, investigators embedded themselves in the temple's CCTV control room, systematically reviewing operational logs and tracking how daily donations were handled. (ANI)