Lucknow, Jun 15: Deposing before a special CBI court in the Babri demolition case, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar on Monday denied allegations of conspiracy to pull down the disputed structure.

“I was falsely implicated in the case as there was a Congress-led government at the Centre and due to political vendetta, I was roped in the case for ulterior reasons,” deposed Katiyar before the court. Katiyar was told to appear before the court as it started recording statements of the accused on June 4. The court has been conducting day-to-day proceedings in order to conclude the trial by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.

Katiyar had earlier appeared before the CBI court on June 4 but due to paucity of time, his statement could not be recorded. On Monday, he appeared in the court along with his lawyer K K Mishra. To most questions, Katiyar either said he did not know or he was falsely implicated.

After recording the statement of Katiyar, Special Judge S K Yadav directed other persons, who are less than 65 years of age, to appear before it on Tuesday. However, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, BJP leaders MM Joshi and Uma Bharti are already exempted from personal appearance till furthers.

The special court also directed its office to write to the Sonipat District Jail superintendent in Haryana to arrange for the recording of the statement of an accused, Ram Chandra Khatri, through video link on June 20. It asked the office to furnish the copy of the letter to the Sonipat district judge for information and necessary action.

The court is at present engaged in recording statements of accused under section 313 of the CrPC, a stage in the trial which follows the completion of examination of prosecution witnesses. The Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 by "kar sevaks" who claimed that the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the site of an ancient Ram temple.

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