Ayodhya Case: Faizabad Police was privy to demolition attempts: Anju Gupta

FAIZABAD - Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and a key witness in the Babri Masjid demolition case Anju Gupta told a special court on Friday that Faizabad Police had intelligence inputs that an attempt could be made to harm the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

Gupta, a 1990 batch IPS officer, who was then Assistant Superintendent of Police in Faizabad, was deputed as a personal security officer of former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani during his Ayodhya campaign in 1992.

She is now posted with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Delhi,

During cross-examination by the defence lawyer in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Gulab Singh here, Gupta, said she had attended a review meeting convened by Inspector General of Police, Faizabad, A K Saran on December 5, 1992, the day before the structure was demolished.

To specific queries from the defence lawyer, Gupta said Saran had stated during the 40-45-minute-long meeting that according to the intelligence inputs, threats were at two levels.

Gupta said that inputs had suggested that people who had gathered there could attempt an attack on the disputed structure and that operatives of Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) could also disturb the law and order situation in Ayodhya.

During her deposition before the court on March 26, Gupta had stated that Advani had given a provocative speech in Ayodhya, moments before the mosque was demolished by scores of activists.

“On December 6, 1992, Advani made a spirited speech from Ram Katha Kunj manch, barely 150-200 metres from the disputed site which charged the people. He repeatedly said that the temple would be constructed at the same site,” Gupta had said.

Along with Advani former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti and other Sangh Parivar leaders have been accused in the case of inciting violence that led to the demolition.

Advani, a former deputy prime minister, was discharged in the case in 2002 after the conspiracy charge was dropped.

But three years later, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court reinstated the charges of intentionally provoking people into rioting, arson and indulging in rioting with intent to create disorder as well as creating discord among communities. (ANI)