No exemption for Advani, Joshi: CBI court asks them to appear on May 30

Lucknow: The special CBI court which is handling the Babri Masjid demolition case has asked senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti (who is also a Union minister) to appear before it on May 30 without fail. The court made it clear to the accused leaders that they would get no further exemptions, and must appear before it on that day.

All three leaders have been charged with criminal conspiracy in the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

CBI special judge S.K. Yadav on Thursday showed his displeasure over the appearance of only one of the accused — Shiv Sena leader Satish Pradhan — before the court, while Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti, Champat Rai Bansal, Baikunth Lal Sharma and Mahant Dharam Das Maharaj were not present. The court had fixed Thursday for the framing of charges against them.

The Supreme Court had ruled last month that the conspiracy charges against the three senior leaders of the BJP, as well as other leaders, would be revived seven years after the Allahabad high court had upheld a 2001 CBI court ruling which had dropped them.

The Supreme Court had also given the CBI special court in Lucknow a month’s time to frame fresh charges, and two years to deliver its verdict in the 25-year-old Babri Masjid demolition case.