Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta, a key witness in the Babri Masjid demolition case, has told a special court here that two press photographers were attacked by an aggressive mob of kar sewaks on December 6, 1992.
Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta, a key witness in the Babri Masjid demolition case, has told a special court here that two press photographers were attacked by an aggressive mob of kar sewaks on December 6, 1992.
Gupta, who was deployed as a security officer with BJP leader LK Advani on December 6, 1992 at the site of the disputed structure, appeared in person before the special CBI court of additional chief judicial magistrate Vishnu Prasad Agarwal in Raebareli yesterday.
Upon being cross examined by defence counsel Hari Datta Sharma, representing Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara, Gupta told the court that two press photographers - Powell Mathu and Nitin Roy, were attacked by the aggressive mob in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992.
The mob was about to stab Powell with a knife but it was snatched by the policemen accompanying her. Both photographers then hid themselves in a nearby hut, she said, adding that the knife seized by the policemen was deposited at the Ram Janmabhoomi police station in Ayodhya.
When Sharma asked her if there had been any intelligence input that men of the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and Kashmiri militants would mix with the kar sewaks and demolish the disputed structure, Gupta said there were no such inputs.
Asked if there were orders to deploy commandos at the sanctum sanctorium of the makeshift temple and use of tear gas shells to disperse the mob, Gupta said she did not know.
When the defence counsel alleged that she was giving such statements on behalf of the CBI, the IPS officer said she had come to stand witness in a criminal case and she was doing it with full honesty.
The ACJM later fixed December 8 as the next date of hearing.
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