Did missing Babri files get lost in officer’s ‘mystery’ death in 2000?

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: Was Subhash Bhan Sadh, Officer on Special Duty in the Communalism Control Cell of the UP Home Department, who died by falling from a running train in New Delhi on April 30, 2000, carrying the same missing Babri Masjid files for which the state government last week ordered CBI enquiry? Was Bhan’s death accidental or was he murdered?

His father says his son was murdered, and so he has demanded the UP government and CBI to include enquiry about the reasons of his son’s death in the purview of the missing Babri file investigation. He is sure that if CBI solved the mystery of his son’s death, it will automatically solve the mystery of the missing Babri files.

Late OSD’s father Bir Bhan Sadh has alleged that his son’s was not an accidental death but he was murdered by a conspiracy as he was carrying crucial secret files related to the Babri Masjid case, said a PTI report yesterday. Bir Bhan Sadh has said that when on hearing the news about the accident he reached Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital his son told him about the crucial Babri files in his suitcase which he was carrying and requested him to submit those files to the then Home Secretary of UP. But Sadh senior said he did not find any document in the suitcase given to him by the local police in Delhi.

Last week the UP government has also admitted that the officer was the last to have the Babri files. Appearing before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on July 7, UP Chief Secretary submitted a letter from the Home Secretary stating that the missing files had last been taken by Subhash Bhan Sadh. The OSD was on his way to appear before the Liberhan Commission which was probing the Babri Masjid demolition. After 17 years of investigation, the commission submitted its report – yet to be made public – on this June 30.

From the day one Bir Bhan Sadh never accepted the police version about the incident in which his son was killed. Alleging murder and probe for that he approached the Delhi High Court which ordered the Delhi Police to probe the case. The police submitted a report but it was asked to reinvestigate. Reinvestigation report was not submitted. Then CID was asked to probe. It also did not submit any report. As the CBI has now been asked to probe Babri missing files, Sadh senior has urged the agency to look into his son’s death afresh.

An Indian Express story dated July 9 says: “He (OSD) boarded the Kashi-Vishwanath Express in Lucknow on April 30, 2000 since he had to appear before the Liberhan Commission the next day. Just as the train entered New Delhi’s Tilak Bridge station, he met with an “accident”.

In a petition in the Delhi High Court, his father, Bir Bhan Sadh, said his son was carrying secret files which were never found. He alleged that his son was murdered, pushed from a running train as it slowed down at Tilak Bridge station. He fell in the gap between the platform and the train. Rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Sadh died the next day.

The Delhi High Court asked the Delhi Police to investigate Sadh’s death and file a report by August 22, 2000. Family advocate Randhir Jain said a report was filed and a reinvestigation directed. But the reinvestigation report was never filed, he said. In January 2002, the court asked the CID to investigate. Jain said there was again no progress.”

As CBI has been asked to enquire into the missing files of Babri Masjid, will it affect the court proceeding in the Babri Masjid title suit that the Special Bench of the Allahabad High Court is hearing?

“Case will not be held up for this reason. The court proceeding will continue and we hope verdict in six months,” Advocate Mushtaque Ahmed Siddique told TwoCircles.net. Advocate Siddiqui is assisting Advocate Zafaryab Jilani in the Babri title suit on behalf Muslim parties to the case.

Asked if the missing papers will affect the title suit of Babri Masjid, Advocate Siddiqui said: “These papers were important but not such that they can affect the title of the Masjid. They could have substantiated our point rather strongly and clearly. For example, as for the date of installation of idol in the Babri Masjid, the missing government papers could have determined it, now the court, if papers are never found, will rely on witnesses and other proofs.”