Babri demolition: Panel closes evidence

The Liberhan Commission probing the Ayodhya demolition for 14 years closed the recording on evidence on Friday, official sources said.

However, the commission said this would exclude an application seeking to summon former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The commission, whose extended term is expiring soon, closed the proceedings with conclusion of the deposition of its key witness Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure as chief minister the medieval monument was razed on December 6, 1992.

Concluding his deposition, Singh parried a question whether the Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishnu Hindu Parishad and P V Narasimha Rao-led Congress government at the Centre conspired to demolish the disputed Ram Janam Bhoomi Babri Masjid.

"It is our tradition not to speak against the dead and I will not like to say anything adverse against Rao," he told the commission during the cross-examination by the Uttar Pradesh government.
 
On the applications seeking to summon Vajpayee and to recall former deputy prime minister Lal Kishenchand Advani as a witness, the commissions' Chairman Justice M S Liberhan said, "If the commission thinks that there is a necessity to call them, then it will do the needful."

The applications to summon and to recall Vajpayee and Advani as witnesses were filed by Aslam Bhure's counsel O P Sharma after Kalyan Singh had given a statement in Lucknow that both the leaders were allegedly involved in the demolition.

However, after returning to the BJP, Singh had claimed before the commission that he had taken all possible steps for the safety and security of the disputed structure and the incident of December 6 was sudden and there was no intelligence failure.

For more than 12 years, Singh had managed not to appear before the commission by filing a writ in the Allahabad high court which was later transferred to the Delhi high court.

Also read: