Fraud Ram Temple donation website busted, 5 held

Five men who allegedly made an illegal website in the name of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust Ayodhya and duped people of lakhs of rupees by receiving donations on the pretext of the Ram Temple construction were arrested on Monday, the Uttar Pradesh police said.

The accused were nabbed by a joint team of the Noida Cyber police station and Lucknow Cyber Crime headquarters, it said in a statement. “The accused had floated a website in name of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust Ayodhya and put out bank account numbers on the website for donors who volunteered to contribute for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” the police said.

They duped donors of lakhs of rupees.

"They did not only breach the trust of people who made donations, but also floated a website illegally for con job,” the police added.

Those held have been identified as Ashish Gupta (21), Naveen Kumar Singh (26), Sumit Kumar (22), Amit Jha (24) and Suraj Gupta (22), according to officials.

Three of them hail from Amethi district in Uttar Pradesh and two from Sitamarhi in Bihar but all of them were currently staying at New Ashok Nagar in East Delhi adjoining Noida, the officials said.

The UP police team seized five mobile phones, one laptop, and 50 photocopies of Aadhaar cards, among others, from the gang, they added.