Lucknow: Veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani on Friday got recorded his statement in a special CBI court here in the Babri mosque demolition case through videoconferencing from Delhi.
The veteran politician maintained in his statement in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court that the case registered against him was “politically motivated”.
The court had on Thursday recorded the statement of another BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi in the case. Joshi had told the court that he was innocent and falsely implicated in the case by the then Congress government at the Centre.
The BJP leader had also called the prosecution witnesses in the case as “liars”.
“The entire investigation was conducted under the political influence and I was charged on the basis of false and fabricated evidence,” Joshi had told the court.
The court is recording the statements of as many as 32 accused in the case after examination of the prosecution witnesses.
It is conducting day-to-day hearings in the case to complete the trial by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.
Another co-accused BJP leader Uma Bharti had appeared in person in the court earlier this month to depose in the case.
In her testimony, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister too had accused the then central government of falsely implicating her in the case due to “political vendetta”.
The Babri mosque in Ayodhya was brought down on December 6, 1992 by ‘karsevaks’ who believed the structure was built at a spot that is the birthplace of Lord Rama.
The decades-old dispute was settled last year when the Supreme Court ordered that the site be given to a trust to build a Ram temple, and that alternative land be provided in Ayodhya for a mosque.
Advani, Joshi, and others have been accused of being involved in the conspiracy to demolish the mosque.
