Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta said the department came to know in June that the files were missing from the Communalism Control Cell. “The investigation into the case would find out the exact time and place from where the files went missing,” he said.

In the FIR, Singh stated that during a hearing on July 11, 2002, the High Court had asked for seven documents of 1949 related to the disputed land. The Chief Secretary had formed a committee, led by Principal Secretary (Law), to look into the matter. In its report, submitted on July 4, 2009, the committee said 23 files related to the matter were missing.

This report, along with the findings of an inquiry held by Home Secretary Javeed Ahmed on June 5, 2009, were submitted to the High Court when Chief Secretary Atul Gupta appeared before the Bench on Tuesday.

On Friday, Chief Standing Counsel D K Upadhyaya informed the court about the lodging of the FIR. At the last hearing, the court had asked the government to inform what action it had taken in the matter. The court fixed the next hearing for July 14.

The Bench, comprising Justices Rafat Alam, Sudhir Agrawal and D V Sharma, is hearing four title suits pertaining to the ownership of the land of the disputed shrine in Ayodhya. The Nirmohi Akahara of Ayodhya and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board are the main litigants. The litigation goes back to December 1949 when idols of Lord Ram were placed in the Babri Masjid.