The Ayodhya Development Authority has filed a case against the company which had registered a complaint of theft of lights from Ram Path and Bhakti Path near the Ram Janmbhoomi temple.

Satyendra Singh, secretary of the Ayodhya Development Authority, said on Saturday: “We have filed a case against Yash Enterprises, which was given the contract to put up bamboo lights and projectors along the roads in Ayodhya. They have violated the tender norms and filed a false case of theft to expedite the payments (from the government to the company).”

Shekhar Sharma, a representative of Yash Enterprises, had filed a case with Ram Janmbhoomi police station on August 9 stating that 3,800 bamboo lights out of 6,400 put up along Ram Path had been stolen. He had mentioned that 36 projector lights out of 96 installed along Bhakti Path had also been stolen.

Although he has not mentioned the cost of the stolen items in the FIR, sources in the police claimed that he had assessed a loss of ₹50 lakh to the company.

Gaurav Dayal, the divisional commissioner of Ayodhya, had on Wednesday said the company had exaggerated its claims.

“There were some ornamental lights that were put up on trees and along dark stretches. It was a very difficult task to hang lights (a bulb placed inside a frame of bamboo sticks) on the trees. We don’t think it would be possible to steal them on such a big scale when there was so much security in the area round the clock,” Dayal had said, indicating that they would take action against the company after the initial inquiry.

Ram Path and Bhakti Path are high-security zones in Ayodhya town because of the Ram temple and frequent movement of VIPs.

In his police report, Sharma had said: “All the lights were in place till April 19, 2024, but about 3,800 bamboo lights and 36 Gobo Projector Lights were found missing during a survey on May 9, 2024.”

The case was filed against the company at the same police station where the theft case was registered.