Yogi Adityanath offers prayers at Ayodhya's Ram temple

Yogi visited a day after criminal conspiracy charges were framed against BJP leaders in Babri case

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday offered prayers at the makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya on his first visit to the town after taking charge.

The visit assumes significance as it comes a day after criminal conspiracy charges were framed against the top BJP leaders in the Babri mosque demolition case.

The UP chief minister, who arrived, spent around 30 minutes at the temple in the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid complex. He later offered prayers on the banks of the Saryu River. Adityanath began his visit by offering prayers at the Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya.

He was accompanied by Dharam Das, against whom conspiracy charges were framed on Tuesday along with the other BJP leaders.

A special CBI court in Lucknow on Tuesday had framed charges against BJP veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi, Union minister Uma Bharti and nine others in the 1992 Babri mosque demolition case. Before Advani reached the court, Adityanath had met him at the VVIP guest house in Lucknow.

The Supreme Court had ordered restoration of the conspiracy charge against them on April 19.

All the six were granted bail on Tuesday by CBI special judge S K Yadav on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each after rejecting the CBI’s opposition to their bail plea.

The apex court had while restoring the charge of criminal conspiracy, directed clubbing of two cases relating to the demolition. The court had also ordered that the trial be concluded in two years.

The CBI had charge sheeted 21 people in the case. Many of them, including Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and the VHP’s Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal, Paramhans Ram Chandra Das and Mahant Avaidhynath, have since died.