KK Mohammad was in excavation team as a trainee, says BB Lal

New Delhi: Former Director General of Archaeological Survey of India, BB Lal and his team members said that KK Mohammed, who was a student then, was among the excavation team as a trainee at Ayodhya. Lal and three members of the team said to 'Times of India' that Mohammed and ten others, who were students of Archaeological Survey of India, were among the excavation team for two months.

The newspaper said that BB Lal, who is now 98, has responded that KK Mohammed was there at the site during his excavation at Ayodhya.  Mohammed's classmate Ashok Pandey said that ten students including KK Mohammed, who was a student of one year post-graduate diploma course, had been to Ayodhya.

Ramakanth Chathurvedi,  one among the team, said that Mohammad was a student of Delhi School of Archaeology of Archaeological Survey of India and he was part of the excavation team as a trainee during 1976-77,  and that they were there to see temple pillars at the site of Babri Masjid land.

Rajnath Singh Kav, who retired from Archaeological Survey of India as a photographer, said that he remembers KK Mohammed as a student of Delhi School of Archaeology, which was later shifted to Greater Noida. Names of only the members of excavation team  are mentioned in the Archaeology report.  Names of trainees are not included, hence Mohammed's name was dropped, Rajnath added.

Excavation at Ramayana sites was inaugurated by the then union culture minister Noorul Hassan and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister H N Bahuguna.  Excavations were done at Ramjanmabhoomi, Hanuman Gandi, Kanal Bhavan, Ashrafi Bhavan, Jhum Ki Ghat, Bharat Kund and Nandigram.