UP court grants bail to sixth Babri mosque demolition accused

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 24 (ANI): A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday granted bail to Satish Pradhan, one of the accused in the 1992 Babri Mosque demolition case. Pradhan, a Shiv Sena leader, made an application for grant of bail before the court a short while ago.He was the sixth accused in the case and Special CBI court judge S K Yadav granted bail on a surety of Rs.20,000 and a personal bond of the same amount. Pradhan is a former mayor of Thane in Maharashtra. He was also a member of Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra for two terms from July 5,1992 to July 4, 1998 and July 5, 1998 to July 4, 2004. The special CBI court that began day-to-day hearing in the politically sensitive case on 20 May has already granted bail to five Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders named as accused. Besides Ram Vilas Vedanti, those who appeared in the CBI court on Saturday were VHP leaders Champat Rai, Baikunth Lal Sharma, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and Dharmdas Maharaj. The court had on Tuesday put off the hearing as Pradhan did not appear before it. The special court is hearing the 1992 demolition cases, including the one against BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. The Supreme Court had in April transferred its case from Rae Bareli to Lucknow where another case was on in the matter. The apex court had on April 19 directed the special court to start proceedings in the matter within a month and deliver its verdict within two years. The Babri mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992. On that day, BJP, VHP and RSS leaders gathered at the site to offer prayers and perform a symbolic kar seva. At noon, a teenage Kar Sevak (volunteer) was "vaulted" on to the dome and that signalled the breaking of the outer cordon. Soon after, a large number of kar sevaks demolished the mosque. Communal riots occurred across the country immediately following demolition of the mosque, between Hindus and Muslims. These results in the deaths of 2,000 people. In Bombay, riots claimed the lives of around 900 people. The riots extended to Bangladesh, where hundreds of shops, homes and temples of Hindus were destroyed. Many terror attacks by banned jihadi outfits like Indian Mujahideen cited demolition of Babri Mosque as an excuse for terrorist attacks in subsequent years. (ANI)