Babri Masjid Demolition case: BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi deposes before special CBI court

The statement of senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was recorded today via video conferencing in connection with Babri Masjid demolition case. Till date, statements of Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, accused Sudhir Kakkad and Ram Chandra Khatri have been recorded by the special court which is conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31st as directed by SC.

Lucknow: A special CBI court in Lucknow on Thursday recorded the statement of senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case. The statement of the 86-year-old leader was recorded in the court of Special Judge S K Yadav through video conference.

The court is also set to record the statement of another senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani on July 24 through video conferencing. His statement will be recorded under section 313 CrPC.

The court is recording the statements of the 32 accused under Section 313 of CrPC to enable them to plead their innocence if they so want.

The court, which is conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31st as directed by the Supreme Court, set July 22nd for former Shiv Sena MP Satish Pradhan to depose before it through a video link.

Earlier, it had recorded the statement of accused Sudhir Kakkad who appeared in person, though earlier he wanted to depose through a video link. Like the other accused, Kakkad claimed that he was innocent and was falsely implicated by the then Congress-led central government for political reasons.

READ: Babri trial: I am innocent, allegations baseless, says Kalyan Singh after hearing

The court had also recorded the statement of accused Ram Chandra Khatri who is lodged in a Haryana jail in another case. After recording the statement through a video conferencing system, the jail superintendent got the signature of Khatri on the hard copy of the statement and send it back through speed post in original.

BJP leader Uma Bharti had earlier this month appeared in person before the court. She had also accused the then Congress-led central government of framing her due to political vendetta.

Former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure the demolition took place, had also recorded his system in the Babri demolition case. Singh blamed the then-Congress government for levelling "false and baseless allegations" against him in the demolition case.

The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6th, 1992 by 'kar sevaks' who claimed that an ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site. Advani and Joshi were leading the Ram temple movement at that time.

With agency inputs