Lucknow:
Senior BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Monday accused the then Congress government at the Centre of levelling “false and baseless allegations” against him in the Babri mosque demolition case and said he was “innocent”. “The then Congress government at the Centre levelled false and baseless allegations against me and filed a case out of political animosity,” he told reporters after appearing before a CBI special court here in connection with the case.
The 88-year-old leader said, “As the UP chief minister, I and my government ensured adequate three-tier security of the disputed structure in Ayodhya.” Singh, during whose tenure the demolition took place, was assisted by two persons as he walked out of the court after over three-hour-long questioning. “I was falsely implicated, I am innocent,” he asserted as he left the court premises.
During the hearing, Singh told the special court that he and his government had provided a three-layer security arrangement for the safety and security of the disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1992. “I had time and again directed administrative officials to take every measures according to the situation for the safety of the structure,” he said.
“However, the then Congress-led Central government got me falsely implicated in the case due to political vendetta,” he said. He stressed that he was “completely innocent”. Singh deposed before special judge S K Yadav under Section 313 of the CrPC. The court had called him in order to enable him to plead his innocence, if he so wanted. Replying to questions, the former UP CM said he was “falsely implicated” in the case on the basis of “false and fabricated evidence” at the behest of the then Congress government due to political reasons”.
When the judge asked him as to why the trial was conducted against him and why the prosecution witnesses deposed against him, he replied that he was unnecessarily forced to face trial and the witnesses deposed against him due to political reasons. Singh was the UP chief minister when the disputed structure was demolished by “kar sewaks” on December 6, 1992.
The CBI accused him of conspiracy. Later, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court gave him and some other accused a clean chit.
But on a petition against the order, the Supreme Court on April 19, 2017 ordered the revival of criminal conspiracy charges against Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati. The SC had, however, clarified that Singh, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992, could not be brought in as an accused to face trial in view of the constitutional immunity granted to governors under Article 361 of the Constitution.
However, the apex court told the CBI to call Singh as an accused as soon as he ceased to be the governor of Rajasthan. As he ceased to be the Rajasthan governor in September 2019, he was made to face the trial by the CBI.
The CBI court is currently recording statements of 32 accused under the CrPC Section 313, a stage in the trial that follows the examination of accused. Other accused, including Advani and Joshi, are yet to be examined at this stage.
Their lawyers have indicated to the CBI court that they prefer to appear through video conferencing. Another accused, Ram Chandra Khatri, is presently lodged in a Sonipat jail in Haryana in connection with another case.
The special court had last week reiterated that a reminder should be sent to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for making arrangements to record his statement through video conferencing. With regard to another accused, Om Prakash Pandey, the CBI had furnished a report, saying he was untraceable. Members of the Pandey’s family had claimed that he had become a monk years ago and did not come home.
His brother Mahendra Pandey had said he would try to find him and inform the CBI. The court had then directed the agency to remain in contact with Mahendra Pandey and furnish further report.
The court has already issued a non-bailable warrant against Om Prakash Pandey. The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished in December 1992 by ‘kar sevaks’ who claimed that an ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site. The CBI court is conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.
