Special CBI Court to Resume Ayodhya Case Trial

The CBI court during its first hearing in the state capital granted bail to five VHP leaders named as the accused.

The Babri Masjid in early 1900. (Photo Courtesy: The British Library Board)

The trial in the politically-sensitive 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case by a special CBI court will resume in Lucknow on Monday, following a Supreme Court order to it to hear the case on a daily basis and deliver the verdict in two years.

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

The CBI court, during its first hearing in the state capital, granted bail to five VHP leaders named as accused, including Ram Vilas Vedanti, who appeared before it on Saturday.

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Besides Vedanti (59), those who appeared before the CBI court on Saturday were VHP leaders Champat Rai (71), Baikunth Lal Sharma (88), Mahant Nritya Gopal Das (79) and Dharmdas Maharaj (68). The sixth accused, Satish Pradhan, did not appear.

CBI special court judge SK Yadav allowed their bail pleas, asking each of them to furnish two sureties of Rs 20,000 and a personal bond of the same amount.

The Supreme Court had last month directed that BJP stalwarts, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, face trial on conspiracy charges in the demolition case.

It had dubbed the demolition of the medieval-era monument as a “crime” which shook the “secular fabric of the Constitution” and allowed CBI’s plea on restoration of criminal conspiracy charges against the VVIP accused.

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The matter is likely to have political implications, particularly against 89-year old Advani, reported to be a front-runner for the post of the President.