Special CBI court to hear 1992 Babri Masjid demolition cases on Wednesday

Lucknow: A special CBI court will on Wednesday hear the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition cases, including the one against BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.

The Supreme Court had last month directed that Advani, Joshi, Bharti and others will face trial on conspiracy charges and had transferred their case from Raebareli to Lucknow where another case was on in the matter.

"The case bearing crime number 198/92 (transferred from Raebareli) is fixed for hearing tomorrow. L K Advani is already appearing through his advocates," said Lalit Kumar Singh, special public prosecutor, CBI .

The court had yesterday put off the hearing in the other case as Satish Pradhan, one of the six accused, did not appear before it.

On May 20, the special CBI court began day-to-day hearing in the politically sensitive case and granted bail to the five VHP leaders named as accused.

Besides Ram Vilas Vedanti (59), those who appeared in the CBI court on Saturday were VHP leaders Champat Rai (71), Baikunth Lal Sharma (88), Mahant Nritya Gopal Das (79) and Dharmdas Maharaj (68).

Special CBI court judge S K Yadav granted them bail on two sureties of Rs 20,000 each and a personal bond of the same amount. Satish Pradhan, the sixth accused, had failed to appear. He again did not appear yesterday in the matter after which the court put off the hearing.

The hearing could not resume today as the judge was not available.

The Supreme Court had on April 19 directed the special court to start proceedings in the matter within a month and deliver its verdict within two years.