Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta, who was the personal security officer of BJP leader L.K. Advani on December 5-6, 1992 at Ayodhya and key witness in the Babri demolition case, said on Thursday that she knew he remained at the scene even when she had left because a police wireless message had notified her of the precise time of his departure.
She was answering questions put to her by defence counsel of the BJP leaders facing trial in a Rae Bareli court for their role in the demolition of the historic mosque. Asked how she could have told court on March 26 that Mr. Advani was present till 7.55 p.m. when she herself had left his side around 6.30 p.m. to control the crowd elsewhere, Ms. Gupta said she had received a police wireless message informing her that the BJP leader was getting ready to move at 7.55 p.m. This meant he was definitely at the scene till then, she said.
Defence counsel also asked her whether, at the December 5 meeting called by IG (Faizabad) A.K. Sharan, it was said ‘kar sevaks' would be allowed to do ‘kar seva' and ‘puja' but that vigil would also have to be maintained. She said it was clear even before that day that vigil would have to be maintained during the ‘kar seva'.
The ‘ISI threat' angle was again revisited by the defence lawyers, who hinted that there were police reports of Pakistani agents mingling with the ‘kar sevaks'. Ms. Gupta said there were such reports but the police knew the main threat to the Babri structure came from the ‘kar sevaks' who had been mobilised.
Next hearing
Ms. Gupta was cross-examined for three hours but with defence counsel stating they had more questions, Chief Judicial Magistrate Gulab Singh fixed May 15 as the next date of hearing.