CBI finds 16 missing Babri files,7 others ‘weeded out’

The investigative agency is yet to ascertain whether the seven documents which the Allahabad High Court had summoned from the state government are among the 16 it has traced. The files are in a very bad condition,the sources said.

Among the 23 missing documents was a telex from the first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru to the state government for removal of the idols installed in the Babri Mosque in 1949 as also a correspondence between the Uttar Pradesh government and the then Faizabad district magistrate.

Despite repeated directions of the high court,the state government had failed to find these documents. Later,it informed the court that,in fact,as many as 23 files relating to the Babri dispute were missing.

On July 10 this year,the state government lodged an FIR regarding the missing files at the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow and later recommended a CBI probe into the matter.

However,on July 15,the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court expressed unhappiness over the government’s handling of the matter and directed the CBI to probe the matter within two months and submit a progress report before the court on August 24,which is the next date of hearing.

The bench comprising Justices S Rafat Alam,Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma was hearing the conflicting claims regarding the ownership of the land of the disputed shrine. 

“Whether non-availability or disappearance of the files is deliberate and due to the involvement of some official of the secretariat and,if so,whether it is a part of some conspiracy to obstruct hearing of this matter,should be another aspect of the probe,” the court had said.

Sources said the CBI has asked the appointment department of the state secretariat to provide information about the officials who were posted in the Home Department and looked after the matters related to the Babri dispute in the last 10 years.

The team is also collecting details to find out when exactly the seven files,which are still missing, were “weeded out”.

The high court,in its order,had said that the CBI could register cases against any officer,retired or serving,found prima facie responsible.

The CBI officials also plan to collect details from the Sunni Central Board of Waqfs which,along with others,had moved an application before the court in 2002 for production of seven documents related to the Babri dispute.