Spl court defers framing of charges in Ayodhya case

Lucknow: A special CBI court Thursday deferred till May 30 framing of charges against six accused in one of the two Babri Masjid demolition cases, after five of them sought exemption from appearance.

Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, Baikunth Lal Sharma alias Prem Ji, Champat Rai Bansal, Dharma Das and Satish Pradhan are the accused in the case.

Pradhan, a Shiv Sena leader, was present in the court today. But special CBI court judge S K Yadav said that since the other five accused had sought exemption, it would not be possible to frame charges against him alone.

Postponing the matter till May 30, the court said no further adjournment would be allowed.

The special court is likely to frame charges tomorrow against BJP leader L K Advani, Union Minister Uma Bharti, party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the second case which has been transferred here from Raebareli on the direction of the Supreme Court.

The apex court had on April 19 restored the serious criminal conspiracy offence against Advani and the other accused in the case and directed the court frame charges.

Besides the BJP three leaders, the conspiracy charge would now be invoked against Vinay Katiar, Sadhvi Ritambara and Vishnu Hari Dalmia.