Lucknow: A special CBI Court will from Thursday start recording the statements of accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
The eight accused, including Ram Vilas Vedanti abd Mahant Dharmdas, have been summoned by CBI Special for testimony under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Over 30 accused, including senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, will also be summoned soon for recording their statements in connection with the case.
So far, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recorded the statements of 294 witnesses on behalf of the prosecution.
A case was registered against hundreds of ‘karsevaks’ for demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 at the Ram Janambhoomi police station by the then SHO Priyamvada Nath Shukla and Police Post in-charge Ganga Prasad Tiwari. A total of 48 FIRs were registered.
The case was initially probed by the local police after which it was given to Crime-Branch Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID). Later, the CBI took over the investigation.
On May 31, 2017, the CBI had filed a charge-sheet against 49 accused, of whom 16, including the then VHP chief Ashok Singhal, Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray and Mahant Avaidyanath, passed away. Senior politicians like LK Advani, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Murali Manohar Joshi, Giriraj Kishore and Vishnu Hari Dalmiya were accused of delivering hate speeches during the demolition of the mosque.
The Supreme Court had ordered a lower court to complete the hearing in a time span of two years from April 19, 2017. The apex court again directed on July 19, last year that the judgment in this matter should be given in nine months.
In 1992, the mosque was razed down by scores of volunteers in a bid to build a Ram Temple, which snowballed into a massive frenzy of communal riots across the country.
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