Lucknow: The special CBI court in Lucknow, conducting the Babri trial started recording statements of the accused on Thursday.
Six of the 32 accused allegedly involved in the Babri Masjid demolition trial appeared before the special CBI Court.
Ram Vilas Vedanti, senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar, Santosh Dube, Pawan Pandey, Gandhi Yadav and Vijay Bahadur Singh appeared in the Court for the recording of their statements under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Other accused are believed to have sought an exemption to appear on another date.
"It seems that these hearings will take a lot of time. It's an elaborate case and the judgement will stretch over a long period of time," said senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar while talking to media.
On the other hand, Religious leader Dr. Ram Vilas Vedanti in connection with the Ram Mandir said that the Supreme Court has already given its order and no other court can question its decision.
He also told that the construction of the much-awaited Ram temple will be completed within two years.
Meanwhile, BJP politician Pawan Pandey talking to media and said that the case of Babri Masjid demolition should have been withdrawn since the Ayodhya dispute has already been resolved by the Supreme Court.
Advocate KK Mishra, who is defending the accused told ETV Bharat,"Out of six accused who appeared before the special CBI Court, till now statement of Vijay Bahadur Singh has been recorded. The list of question is long and therefore it will take time. There are a total of 1044 questions and each question requires five minutes."
The court will record the statements of as many as 32 accused, including the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, BJP leaders M. M. Joshi, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Sakshi Maharaj, Ram Vilas Vedanti and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
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The hearing will enable the accused to explain their innocence and further explain the incriminating circumstances that existed in the evidence led by the prosecuting agency CBI against them.
Earlier, special judge S. K. Yadav had recorded in his order that the CBI concluded its prosecution evidence and no further prosecution evidence remained to be led.
The prosecution evidence was, in fact, completed on March 6, 2020, itself and the court had asked some of the accused, including Champat Rai, Lallu Singh and Prakash Sharma, to appear before it on March 24 for the recording of a statement but due to the lockdown and closure of the court, the proceedings could not be held.
Meanwhile, when the court resumed on May 18, the defence counsel moved an application to summon three prosecution witnesses in order to cross-examine them. The court allowed the application and completed proceedings on Wednesday.
(With inputs from Agencies)
