Liberhan Commission submits report to PM

New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) Seventeen years after it was
set up, the Liberhan Commission probing the 1992 demolition of
Babri Masjid in Ayodhya Tuesday submitted its report to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Commission, which had got 48 extensions, submitted
the report to the Prime Minister by Retd Justice M S Liberhan
in presence of Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The contents of the report were not immediately known.

Set up within ten days of the demolition of the historic
mosque on December six, 1992, which triggered widespread
communal violence leading to heavy loss of lives, the panel
has become the country's longest serving Commission of
Enquiry.

The Commission, mandated to inquire into the
circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque
was to submit its report by March 16, 1993 but sought repeated
extensions to complete its probe.

The last three month extension was given in March this
year.

The probe panel was one of the costliest Commissions
having spent nearly Rs eight crore. The bulk of the amount was
spent on the salaries and perks of the supporting staff.

During the extended proceedings spread over 400 sittings,
the Commission recorded the statements of senior BJP (Bhartiya
Janata Party) leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and then
chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh.

The panel had completed hearing the last witness in 2005.
PTI