LUCKNOW: A special CBI court in Lucknow will frame charges against former deputy prime minister LK Advani, former HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi, cabinet minister Uma Bharti, MP Vinaya Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara and Vishnu Hari Dalmia on May 26 for conspiring to demolish the Babri mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
The court has fixed the date for the framing of charges saying that it could be done only when the accused persons would appear in the court in person.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court, in its April 19, 2017 order, had asked the CBI court to frame conspiracy charges and initiate trial for all accused against whom conspiracy charges were dropped by the trial court in 2001 and the order was upheld by Allahabad High Court in 2010.
The CBI then approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order in 2011.
Meanwhile, the special court is expected to frame charges against Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, Baikunth Lal Sharma alias Prem Ji , Champat Rai Bansal, Dharma Das and Dr Satish Pradhan on May 25. Earlier, Dr Pradhan appeared before the court and obtained bail.
After the demolition, two FIRs were registered in connection with the incident. The first FIR (197) was lodged against kar sevaks for bringing down the structure in the form of a mob.
The trial in first FIR had been going on in Lucknow court. Meanwhile, the trial in the second FIR (198) lodged against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti and others on the charges of delivering incendiary speeches and hatching conspiracy to get the structure demolished, was going on in Rae Bareli CBI court.