March 26: L.K. Advani’s immunity from Babri conspiracy charges appeared to come under threat today after a woman IPS officer told a Rae Bareli court the BJP leader had made a provocative speech from 150 yards away shortly before kar sevaks demolished the mosque.

Anju Gupta, 45, a 1990-batch IPS officer who was Advani’s personal security officer on the day, said neither the former Deputy Prime Minister nor any other leader present had tried to stop the kar sevaks as they attacked the mosque.

“On December 6, 1992, Advani made a spirited speech from the Ram Katha Kunj manch (dais)… which charged the people. He repeatedly said the temple would be constructed at the same site…. None of the leaders present at the spot made any effort to stop the demolition,” Gupta said, corroborating what she had told the CBI in 1993.

Encouraged by Advani’s speech, she said, the kar sevaks moved towards the area armed with rods, daggers and shovels.

Conspiracy charges have been dropped against Advani and seven other Sangh parivar leaders who are being tried by the Rae Bareli court for incitement, but Gupta’s testimony raised expectations among some that the charge could be revived.

CBI counsels K.P. Singh and P.K. Choubey were smiling after Gupta’s two-hour deposition, one of the first eyewitness accounts against Advani by an official. Choubey said the testimony, which runs into 55-odd pages, would be “concrete evidence” against all the accused, especially Advani.

Babri Masjid Action Committee chief Zafaryab Jilani said: “Coming from an IPS officer of high integrity, the statement has come as a flash of truth about BJP leaders. It has virtually ratified our demand for bringing back conspiracy charges against Advani.”

Jilani had yesterday said his organisation might move the trial court to revive the conspiracy charges after Gupta’s testimony.

Gupta, now handling the electronic surveillance unit of spy agency RAW, arrived in plain clothes and was cross-examined by the defence. Her cross-examination will resume on April 23.

“When the structure was being demolished, the leaders on the dais looked happy,” Gupta said. “They hugged each other, sweets were being distributed and there was an atmosphere of celebration while they were provoking kar sevaks to demolish the structure. Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara also hugged each other and congratulated Advani and (Murli Manohar) Joshi.”

After the demolition, she said “the leaders were repeatedly asking the people not to leave the place and said that the work was still incomplete”.

BJP leaders Joshi, Uma (now a party exile), and Vinay Katiyar are co-accused in the case along with the VHP’s Ritambhara, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore and Vishnu Hari Dalmiya.

The testimony by Gupta, married to another Uttar Pradesh-cadre IPS officer who is posted in the Union home ministry, cast a cloud on the police too.

Gupta said she had been the circle officer in Faizabad when she was given charge of Advani’s security on December 5, 1992. She attended an intelligence meeting where senior officers said there was credible input that the mosque might be pulled down.

She said that around noon on December 6, when she saw kar sevaks approach the mosque, she had dialled the Ayodhya police control room and asked for additional forces, but received “no positive response” to her repeated requests.

The police stood and watched the demolition.

“The then DGP, S.C. Dixit, who was also present on the dais, congratulated the security personnel on duty saying their names will be written in golden letters in the pages of history for their co-operation,” she said.

Gupta said that when she told Advani that people were demolishing the mosque and “falling from the domes and getting injured”, Advani expressed concern and said he was willing to go to the site. But after consultations with senior officials, the BJP leader was told he should not go because if he got involved in a mishap, the situation might spin out of control.

So Uma was sent to take a look. Later, when smoke came out from the localities around the mosque, Uma declared from the dais that “the Muslims themselves were setting their houses on fire”, Gupta said.

The BJP refused comment, spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy saying: “This is the ninth witness and another 40 are remaining. There is a legal process. Therefore… the BJP would not like to comment.”

BJP sources hinted that the party was not putting itself out for Advani since he no longer held centre stage and was “certainly not a shining symbol of Hindutva after the Jinnah episode”.

Besides, the party has a new team under Nitin Gadkari made up largely of “products of the economic liberalisation era” for whom Ayodhya is history. Nor is the Ram temple issue a vote-catcher any more.

Congress leader Rashid Alvi demanded that Advani retire from politics.