Allegations of murder and an investigation hanging fire are the key elements of the mystery behind the 23 missing files on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.

Appearing before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday, UP Chief Secretary Atul Gupta submitted a letter from the Home Secretary stating that the missing files had last been taken by Subhash Bhan Sadh, Officer on Special Duty in the Communalism Control Cell of the UP Home Department, who later died in an accident.

But several things were left unsaid. Sadh died in an “accident” on way to Delhi to appear before the Liberhan Commission probing the Babri Masjid demolition — its report was submitted on June 30, almost 17 years after the Ayodhya incident.

He 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.

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