New Delhi, July 24: Dismissing the Opposition charge of misuse of CBI in the Babri Masjid demolition case, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today asserted that no instruction had been issued to the agency nor any charges withdrawn by it. "I can say with conviction no instruction had been issued to CBI at any point of time. Government has no role to play and no charges have been withdrawn," Vajpayee said winding up a short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on government's responsibility vis-a-vis its investigating agencies in Ayodhya matters.

Opposition members including Kapil Sibal and Suresh Pachouri of Congress and Laloo Yadav (RJD) accused the government of "manipulating" the CBI to withdraw the conspiracy charge against Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi and six others.

Emphasising that the government wanted the culprits to be punished and the innocents acquitted, Vajpayee said that it was the job of courts to decide "what are the evidence and who are the guilty to be punished."
In a spirited intervention law minister Arun Jaitley refuted the allegation that CBI had "doctored" video tapes in connection with the case. "Since 1993, all tapes have been in the custody of the courts and not with CBI," he said.

Observing that CBI has "absolute autonomy" to take any action, Vajpayee said, "My government has not withdrawn the case nor had it ever interfered".

Bureau Report