New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to senior Bharatiya Janata Partyleader LK Advani and 19 others on a petition challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict discharging them of criminal conspiracy in the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 06, 1992. Besides Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister Uma Bharti and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh also have been issued notice.
Top BJP leaders including Uma Bharti,Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalyan Singh are amongst those notified by the apex court. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been granted four weeks time to respond to the plea in the case.
The apex court had earlier pulled up CBI for the delay in filing an appeal against the Allahabad High Court verdict. CBI has challenged in the Supreme Court the May 21, 2010 order of the high court, which had upheld a special court’s decision to drop the charge against the leaders.
In its verdict, the high court had upheld the special CBI court order dropping conspiracy charge against Advani, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and Murli Manohar Joshi.
There are two sets of cases — one against Advani and others who were on the dais at Ram Katha Kunj in Ayodhya in December 1992 when the Babri Masjid was demolished, while the other case was against lakhs of unknown ‘karsevaks’ who were in and around the disputed structure.
On December 6, 1992, a mob of Hindu religious volunteers demolished the Babri mosque allegedly been built by the Mughal ruler Babar in the sixteenth century at a place where Lord Ram temple existed. Hindus regard Ayodhya as the birth place of Lord Rama.
The others against whom the charge was dropped included Satish Pradhan, C R Bansal, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Ritambhara, V H Dalmia, Mahant Avaidhynath, R V Vedanti, Param Hans Ram Chandra Das, Jagdish Muni Maharaj, B L Sharma, Nritya Gopal Das, Dharam Das, Satish Nagar and Moreshwar Save. Bal Thackeray’s name was removed from the list of accused persons after his death.
Bureau Report
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