Lucknow: Senior BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh blamed Monday the then Congress government at the Centre for putting him in a spot. He said the Congress government has levelled ‘false and baseless allegations’ against him in the Babri mosque demolition case. Kalyan Singh asserted he was ‘innocent’.
Kalyan Singh’s statements
“The then Congress government at the Centre levelled false and baseless allegations against me. They filed a case out of political animosity,” Singh told reporters here. He did so after appearing before a CBI special court here in connection with the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
The 88-year-old leader also had other points to offer. “As UP chief minister, I and my government ensured adequate three-tier security of the disputed structure in Ayodhya.
Singh was assisted by two persons as he walked out of the court after over three-hour-long questioning. “I was falsely implicated, I am innocent,” he asserted as he left the court premises.
LK Advani yet to be questioned
The CBI court is currently recording statements of 32 accused under the CrPC Section 313. It is a stage in the trial that follows the examination of accused.
Also read: Babri Masjid demolition: Special court records statement of third accused
One of the other alleged accused, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani is yet to be questioned. The CBI court will examine the statements of Murali Manohar Joshi, another BJP stalwart. Their lawyers have indicated to the CBI court that they prefer to appear through video conferencing.
Another accused, Ram Chandra Khatri, is presently lodged in a Sonipat jail in Haryana in connection with another case.
Witness disappears
With regard to another accused Om Prakash Pandey, the CBI had furnished a report. It said that Pandey was untraceable. His family claimed that he had renounced the world and became a monk. He had not come home for years. His brother Mahendra Pandey had said that he would try to find out the whereabouts of his brother. If he did so, he would inform the CBI.