Gyanvapi Masjid News: A local court in Varanasi on Tuesday removed Ajay Kumar Mishra who was appointed advocate commissioner for the video survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid near the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The court also granted two days additional time to the surveyors to submit their report.
The court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar had last week rejected an appeal made by the Muslim side seeking the removal of court commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra. The court, however, appointed two more advocate commissioners -- Vishal Singh and Ajay Singh, for the survey.
The three-day survey started on Saturday amid tight security. The exercise was completed on Monday morning, a day before the deadline set by the court. The three-member team was slated to submit the report today. But the team sought two days more time to finalise the report.
According to Assistant Advocate Commissioner, Ajay Pratap Singh, around 50 per cent of the report is ready. "This is because we did not get time (to compile the report)," he said.
Singh said during the three-day survey from May 14 to 16, underground rooms were surveyed and locks of rooms for which keys were not available broken. Open as well as closed 'taikhanas' (underground rooms) were also surveyed.
Singh didn't comment about the 'wazookhana' in the mosque complex. He, however, said that "definitely there was something due to which the Hindu side made a claim on it and the court gave its orders after taking cognizance of it".
Sources said that the survey team clicked more than 1,500 photos of the mosque and recorded videos in 8 memory cards of 32 GB each.
Earlier on Monday, the court ordered the sealing of a pond in the Gyanvapi Masjid complex after lawyers representing the Hindu petitioners said a Shivling was found there during the court-mandated videography survey. However, a mosque management committee member disputed the claim, saying the object was part of the water fountain mechanism at the wazookhana reservoir where devotees carry out ablutions before offering namaz.
READ MORE: Gyanvapi mosque videography: Shivling, swastik symbols - list of things found during 3-day survey
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