Friday, March 26, 2010

Babri mosque demolition case: IPS officer says Advani gave incendiary speeches

Rae Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 26 (ANI): Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Anju Gupta, who is on deputation with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Delhi, on Friday told a Rae Bareilly court that senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani gave incendiary speeches on December 6, 1992 asserting that the temple would be built at the same place.

Gupta, who was posted as Advani''s personal security officer during the period, said in the court, "I received Advani from the Faisabad border and he was present at the Ram Katha Kunj along with a host of other BJP leaders."

"Kalraj Mishra, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Pramod Mahajan were the other leaders present at the venue," she added.

"Advani said to his supporters that the temple would be built at the same place," she claimed.

Encouraged by Advani''s speech, Gupta further said the ''Kar Sevaks'' moved towards the area with daggers in their hands, as the Ram Katha Kunj was only 150 meters away from the site.

She also said that senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar provoked the crowd.

Earlier, she arrived in court this morning to record her testimony as a witness for the prosecution against senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani and other Sangh Parivar leaders.

Gupta was posted as Advani''s personal security officer during the period when the BJP was bringing its supporters to Ayodhya for ''kar seva'' at the mosque, claimed by the Sangh Parivar to be the birthplace of Lord Rama.

Immediately after the riots in 1993, Gupta had told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) how Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and the rest had expressed delight over the demolition of the mosque.

CBI Director Ashwani Kumar had reportedly written to Cabinet Secretary K Chandrashekhar urging him to release Gupta for the important hearing on the Babri Mosque demolition case.

A special Ayodhya court in Rae Bareilly had earlier discharged Advani on the plea that charges against him were based on mere suspicion. The CBI dropped the charge of criminal conspiracy - Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) - in its revised charge sheet submitted before the Rae Bareilly court on the directives of the Allahabad High Court.


The revised chargesheet contained relatively milder sections under the Indian Penal Code - Sections 153-A, 153-B (propagating communal violence), 147, 149 (rioting) and 505 (spreading ill-will). This was believed to be the result of CBI''s failure to press the charges strongly. (ANI)

0 comments:

Post a Comment