UP Govt didn't know of threat to Babri Masjid, ex-chief secy tells panel

UP Govt didn't know of threat to Babri Masjid, ex-chief secy tells panel
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, FEB 1: The Uttar Pradesh government had no ``specific, concrete and pinpointed'' information till December 6, 1992, about any actual danger to the disputed structure in Ayodhya, former state chief secretary V K Saxena told the Liberhans Ayodhya Commission here on Monday.

The panel is looking into the sequence of events leading to the demolition of the disputed Babri structure in Ayodhya.

``The state government,'' Saxena said, ``came to know about a threat to the disputed structure after 1200 hours on December 6, 1992, when the kar seva was to begin.''

Saxena further submitted that he was not aware of any demands made to the state government by the organisers of the kar seva for managerial assistance.On the matter of deployment of central paramilitary forces in Ayodhya, he said this was dealt with directly by then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh and the state Home Department. ``I did not directly deal with the matter,'' he claimed.

Saxena further submitted that though Kalyan hadsome doubts regarding the operational command of the paramilitary forces and had exchanged correspondence with then Union home minister S.B. Chavan in this regard, the forces were immediately requisitioned by the District Magistrate when the news of the threat to the disputed structure became known. Kalyan, according to him, ``wanted to make sure that there was no confusion and duplicity in the police administration''.