Lucknow: Hindu leaders Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Champat Rai, Baikunth Lal Sharma and Dharam Das surrendered in the special CBI court on Saturday in connection with the Babri demolition case. Mr Satish Pradhan could not appear in court due to ill health. All five were later granted bail by the CBI court on furnishing personal bonds of Rs 20,000 each.
Talking to reporters after getting bail, Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti claimed that then Congress Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao was not only aware of the demolition plans but had assured full support to kar sevaks in pulling down the Babri mosque by not deploying the Army. He alleged that Mr Rao and the Congress were also part of the conspiracy theory.
“Prime Minister Narsimha Rao had called me the night before the demolition to ask what was likely to happen the following day. I told him the mosque will be demolished but we needed his support. I asked him not to deploy the army till the mosque was pulled down and he assured me of the same,” the former BJP MP said.
Dr Vedanti disclosed that Mr Narsimha Rao called him again on December 6 when they were proceeding towards the structure for the Gauri-Ganesh Pujan before executing the demolition plan. “He (then PM) asked me what the situation was. I told him that everything will go as planned. Rao reiterated his full support and assured us not to worry,” he claimed.
Earlier, former BJP MP Dr Ram Vilas Vedanti had said that Mr L K Advani had no role in inciting a frenzied mob to raze the Babri Masjid in 1992. He instead claimed it was he who led the demolition.
“Mr Advani had no role in this incident. I brought it down and ensured that it went down. The accusations against Mr L K Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia are baseless,” the leader said.
This comes just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that Mr L K Advani and several other senior BJP leaders would face trail in conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
The Allahabad high court had earlier ruled in favour of conspiracy charges being dropped against leaders, including L.K. Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Union ministerUma Bharti.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had appealed against the high court order. The Supreme Court ordered a time-bound trial, ordering that the judge hearing the case should not be transferred until a judgment was delivered.
The top court also ordered the clubbing of two trials that were going on in the Babri demolition case. The case against Mr Advani, Dr Joshi and Ms Bharti was being heard in a Rae Bareli court, while a Lucknow court was hearing a case against unnamed kar sevaks who are accused of actually demolishing the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992.
Dr Vedanti is one of the 13 people accused by the CBI of conspiring to bring down the 16th century mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Dr Vedanti said he, Mahant Avaidyanath, also a former BJP MP, and VHP leader Ashok Singhal had exhorted the kar sevaks to raze the disputed structure. Both Mahant Avaidyanath and Mr Singhal are no longer alive.
