Gyanvapi row: Hindu plaintiffs file plea seeking probe into survey report leak

LUCKNOW: A new controversy stoked over the Gyanvapi survey report leak on Monday night peaked on Tuesday when the Hindu plaintiffs filed a fresh petition in Varanasi district court seeking the probe into the leak while offering to return the sealed copy of report by submitting another application.

The Hindu plaintiffs claimed that they had not even opened the sealed cover of the report copy handed over to them by the court.

While the court admitted the petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged leak of survey report, it refused to accept the report copy which was given by it to the Hindu side in a sealed cover on Monday evening. The court posted the matter for hearing on July 4.

The court had handed over the survey report copy to the four Hindu women plaintiffs after getting an undertaking signed by them that they would not leak the report.

Soon after the court handed over the survey report copy to Hindu plaintiffs, some of the electronic news channels started flashing its portions on Monday night. Hurt by this, the women plaintiffs approached the court on Tuesday morning with the copy of sealed report through their lawyer Sudhir Tripathi to return the report as it is. Plaintiff Rakhi Singh’s lawyer Shivam Gaur filed the petition on her behalf seeking probe into the leak.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side, refuted the possibility of report leak from the plaintiffs saying they had received the certified copy of the survey report in a sealed cover via court around 6:30 pm on Monday. “We held a press conference at 7 pm saying that the plaintiffs had no role in the leak as the report which is still in a sealed cover and we offered the court to return it,” he said adding that there seemed to be a big conspiracy behind the leak.

Meanwhile, the district judge Dr AK Vishvesh delivered an oral order on Tuesday saying that the final decision on the plea seeking probe and returning the report would be taken by the court after the hearing on July 4. 

Moreover, besides the main plaintiffs, other organizations including Vishwa Vedic Hindu Sanatan Sangh have also got its objection to the report leak. 

On the other, the lawyers on behalf of the Muslim side represented by Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM) also got their objections to the report leak registered in the court and sought action against the culprit. Claiming it to be a conspiracy to weaken the case, the Muslim side also demanded action against those who showed the video clips which were part of the survey report.