BABRI: CBI COURT SUMMONS ADVANI
LUCKNOW: A special CBI court in Lucknow, conducting day-today hearing of the 1992 Babri demolition case, on Thursday asked BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi to appear personally before it on May 30.
A special Criminal Investigation Bureau (CBI) court on Thursday deferred till May 30 framing of charges against six accused in one of the two Babri Masjid demolition cases, after five of them sought exemption from appearance.
Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, Baikunth Lal Sharma alias Prem Ji, Champat Rai Bansal, Dharma Das and Satish Pradhan are the accused in the case.
Pradhan, a Shiv Sena leader, was also present in the court on Thursday. But special CBI court judge S K Yadav said that since the other five accused had sought exemption, it would not be possible to frame charges against him alone.
Postponing the matter till May 30, the court said no further adjournment would be allowed.
The special court is also likely to frame charges against senior BJP leader L K Advani, Union Minister Uma Bharti and party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi among others in the second case which has been transferred here from Raebareli on the direction of the Supreme Court.
The apex court had on April 19 restored the serious criminal conspiracy offence against Advani and the other accused in the case and directed the court frame charges.
Besides the BJP three leaders, the conspiracy charge would now be invoked against Vinay Katiar, Sadhvi Ritambara and Vishnu Hari Dalmia.
While the conspiracy charges against the trio were dropped by a special CBI court in 2001, and later upheld by the Allahabad High Court (HC) in 2010, the apex court in April had ruled that the BJP leaders, and some Shiv Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders will have to face trial for their alleged role in the conspiracy to demolish the mosque.
The CBI had also pressed for the charges.
In the meantime, the court has also refused exemption from personal appearance to Advani and Union Water Resources Minister Bharti.
Both the BJP leaders had earlier moved court seeking exemption from personally appearing in the court for the case hearing of their role in the conspiracy to raze the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. –PTI& IANS