The Hindu : CBI should appeal against discharge, says Congress

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Sunday, Sep 21, 2003

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CBI should appeal against discharge, says Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 20. The Congress today demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) file an appeal against the discharge of the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, in the Babri Masjid demolition case by the Rae Bareli court and alleged that as Home Minister, Mr. Advani, "misused" his office to weaken the case.

While filing the appeal, the Congress said, the CBI should draw material from the composite chargesheet pending in the Lucknow sessions court and combine it with the case in Rae Bareli, since that case contained specific charge of conspiracy against Mr. Advani and others.

The party also blamed the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for inducting Mr. Advani into the Union Cabinet. "From the time he became Home Minister, Mr. Advani has lost no time or opportunity to misuse his office to weaken the case against him", the Congress spokesperson, S. Jaipal Reddy, alleged. The party said that the resignation of the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, should be accepted and that refusal to do so would amount to a political farce.

The CBI, he said, had consistently stated that Mr. Advani was the prime "instigator and conspirator" in the case and therefore a consolidated chargesheet was filed in the Lucknow sessions court and charges were framed in 1997. Referring to the party's demand both in Parliament and outside that Mr. Advani should not be allowed to continue as Minister, Mr. Reddy said: "Now our worst apprehension and allegations have been proved with his being discharged... It is a clear and massive example of sabotage by the CBI, which has conspired to get the prime conspirator liberated from the case." Arguing that the CBI should not have separated the chargesheets in both cases pertaining to the Babri Masjid demolition, he said the move was "perverse and destructive of justice". Mr. Advani might have been technically and temporarily discharged but the "cloud" over him would continue to be there.

The All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), welcomed the court's decision to frame charges against Dr. Joshi and six others but found "legally incomprehensible", that the same charges against Mr. Advani were dropped. In a statement, the AIMMM president, Syed Shahabuddin, demanded that the CBI seek a review of Mr. Advani's exoneration.

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