NEW DELHI, Dec 18: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Monday submitted its report on the scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque adjacent to the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi district court.
The document running over a 1,000 pages, was submitted in the court in a sealed cover. Advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is representing the Hindu petitioners, said, “The report in sealed cover was placed before the court by the ASI’s standing counsel Amit Srivastava.” Four senior officials of the ASI were also present in the court.
The counsel of Gyanvapi mosque asked the court to not to make the report public, whereas the Hindu side urged the court to make the report public. The court will take a call on the report on December 21 when it would open the sealed report and submit its copies to the advocates of either side, said Mr Yadav.
The ASI carried out the scientific survey of the mosque premises to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The survey was carried out on the order of the Varanasi court and approved by the Allahabad High Court and took more than four months to complete the survey.
(Manas Dasgupta)
