In an attempt to nail the top nine Sangh Parivar leaders, including mahants (priests), in the Babri Masjid demolition case that is on at a special court in Rai Bareli, the CBI is contemplating seeking the Supreme Court’s nod for adding their names in the case under trial before the special court in Lucknow.
According to sources currently the top Sangh parivar leaders, including mahants, are facing trial under lesser charges in a special court at Rai Bareli where the case was transferred from Lucknow due to certain legal technicalities. “The agency wants that the names of at least five mahants should be included in the chargesheets filed by the CBI. These mahants include Mahant Jagdish Muni, Mahant Avaidyanath, Param Hans Ram Chandra Das, Dharamdas and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das,” sources said.
The Sangh Parivar leaders, whose names figured in the second FIR No. 198 of 1992 before the Rai Bareli court, faced charges under Sections 152A, 153B, 505, 147 and 149 of IPC. These sections respectively deal with the offences of promoting enmity among people of different religion, casting imputation on national integration, making statements aimed at creating mischief, rioting and unlawful assembly.
“The agency wants to add at least nine names, including five mahants, in the Lucknow case. This is the reason that the CBI is planning to raise the issue during arguments over agency’s plea that the top leaders of BJP and Sangh Parivar, including L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and Uma Bharti, be charged with ‘criminal conspiracy’ for their alleged role in bringing down the structure on December 6, 1992,” sources said.
The agency has already left it to the Supreme Court to decide whether the charge of “criminal conspiracy” could be added in the case against top leaders of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, including Mr Advani, Mr Joshi and Ms Bharti, sources added. The top court recently asked the Rai Bareli court to expeditiously hear the Babri Masjid case against Mr Advani and 19 others against whom the charges of criminal conspiracy had been dropped by the trial court.