Babri demolition: CBI to summon accused

AYODHYA: The special CBI court in Lucknow hearing the Babri Masjid demolition case will begin the procedure from Thursday to examine the accused under Section 313 of CrPC on basis of recorded statements of witnesses. Statements of last of the two witnesses were recorded through video-conferencing on Wednesday and the court will decide on summons to the first of the 32 accused on Thursday.

Talking to TOI, CBI counsel M M Haq said, "The CBI court on Wednesday completed the recording of statements of last two witnesses, Farhat Abbas and Jagat Bahadur. The court, however, dropped the statement of another witness, Madhurima Mishra of Faizabad as she was very ill and was unable to record her statement. While Abbas gave his statement through video-conferencing from the office of district judge of Ambedkarnagar, Bahadur recorded his statement online from the office of district judge, Mathura."

"The court directed CBI to summon the accused for examination and ensure their presence in person. The accused will be examined on the base of statements of witnesses before the court," said Haq. The court will issue orders on Thursday on whom to summon first, he said.