Calling it “a very serious matter”, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into 23 missing files related to the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute and complete it within two months.

The Lucknow Bench, hearing the Ayodhya title suits, also directed the CBI Director to submit an interim progress report on August 24, the next date of hearing.

Giving the CBI a free hand, the bench said it can register cases against any officer, retired or serving, found prima facie responsible and file fresh cases if necessary. It also asked the investigating agency to report any “obstruction”. “The Director of CBI shall take all steps for the investigation and if there is any obstruction or difficulty at any stage may report the matter to this court for necessary direction, if required,” ruled the bench of Justices S Rafat Alam, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma. It added that “any reluctance and obstruction” would be treated as contempt of court.

Expressing unhappiness over the UP government’s handling of the case, the bench said: “It appeared that steps taken by the state government to lodge an FIR and thereafter referring the matter to the CBI are only dilatory tactics. In our view, loss of so many files and that too of such a sensitive matter from the Secretariat is a very serious matter, which deserves to be investigated.”

It was in 2002 that the court, on an application of the Sunni Wakf Board, had asked the government to file seven documents. Last week, the government, for the first time, admitted that not only those seven documents, but as many as 23 files were missing.

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