Lucknow, February 02: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday submitted the final report on the probe to trace the 23 missing files relating to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque dispute before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, which rapped the premier investigative agency for leaving key questions unanswered.
In the report, the CBI reportedly said it had failed to trace the missing documents which included a telex from the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the state government for removal of idols installed in the Babri Mosque in 1949 and the correspondence between the Uttar Pradesh government and the then Faizabad District Magistrate.
Raising questions over the investigation of the country’s premier agency, the Special Bench comprising Justices S Rafat Alam, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma reserved its order on the inquiry report.
“Earlier, of the 23, CBI could trace only 8 files while 3 were shown to be weeded out. The mystery on the remaining 12 still remains,” said Jafaryab Jilani, counsel of the Sunni Wakf Board.
“The CBI had also told court that the death of Subhash Bhan Sadh, Officer on Special Duty in the Communalism Control Cell of the UP Home Department, was an accident,” said Jilani.
Sadh, who was reportedly carrying some files that are now missing, had died after falling off a train in 2000 while he was on way to Delhi to depose before the Liberhan Commission that probed the mosque demolition.
“Based on the report of the Delhi Police submitted in a Delhi court, the CBI told the High Court here that Sadh died in an accident. �This prompted the court to ask what all investigations were carried by the CBI to reach to the conclusion that Sadh’s death was an accident,” said Jilani.
The court also came down heavily on the CBI for failing to answer some other questions. “The government has submitted at least seven affidavits on the missing files and each one had a different version.
The court had asked the CBI whether it had made an inquiry into different versions of the government,” said Jilani, adding that if some files were “weeded out” from government records, the moot question on who had ordered the weeding out also remained unanswered.
The case relates to an application of the Sunni Wakf Board filed in 2002 asking the government to produce seven missing documents that are “absolutely relevant” to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit.
Later, the government told court that as many as 23 files were missing in the Uttar Pradesh government’s records.
The high court had, on July 15, 2009, asked the CBI to investigate the matter.
—-Agencies