Lucknow: Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta, a
key witness in the Babri Masjid demolition case, has told a special court here that two press photographers were attacked by an aggressive mob of karsewaks on December 6, 1992.
Gupta, who was deployed as a security officer with BJP
leader L K Advani on December 6, 1992 at the site of the
disputed structure, appeared in person before the special CBI
court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vishnu Prasad
Agarwal in Raebareli yesterday.
Upon being cross examined by defence counsel Hari Datta
Sharma, representing Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara, Gupta
told the court that two press photographers - Powell Mathu and
Nitin Roy, were attacked by the aggressive mob in Ayodhya on
Dec 6, 1992.
The mob was about to stab Powell with a knife but it was
snatched by the policemen accompanying her. Both photographers
then hid themselves in a nearby hut, she said, adding that the
knife seized by the policemen was deposited at the Ram
Janmabhoomi police station in Ayodhya.
When Sharma asked her if there had been any intelligence
input that men of the Pakistani Intelligence Agency ISI and
Kashmiri militants would mix with the karsevaks and demolish
the disputed structure, Gupta said there were no such inputs.
Asked if there were orders to deploy commandos at the
sanctum sanctorium of the makeshift temple and use of tear gas
shells to disperse the mob, Gupta said she did not know.
When the defence counsel alleged that she was giving such
statements on behalf of the CBI, the IPS officer said she had
come to stand witness in a criminal case and she was doing it
with full honesty.
The ACJM later fixed December 8 as the next date of
hearing.
PTI
