Senior BJP leader LK Advani and 12 others were part of a larger conspiracy to demolish the disputed Babri Masjid, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court on Thursday, arguing for charges to be revived against the politicians.
India’s premier probe agency told the top court that Advani and others hadn’t faced conspiracy charges based on technical reasons. The CBI wants the trial to be held in a Lucknow court.
Hundreds of Hindu zealots scaled the centuries-old Babri Masjid in 1992 and knocked it down with axes, hammers and other tools, triggering a cycle of communal violence that claimed more than 3,000 lives.
The controversial demolition was the culmination of a festering dispute between Muslims and many Hindus, who believe the Mughal emperor Babur razed a temple at the site believed to be the birthplace of Hindu god Ram.
