VARANASI: Days after the district court ruled that a priest can perform prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque here, a petitioner filed a plea on Monday seeking an ASI survey of all other closed basements in the complex.
The petition, filed by Rakhi Singh, a founding member of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh and one of the parties in the Shringar Gauri case, which led to the survey of the complex by ASI — said there are “secret cellars” inside the basements, and it is necessary to survey them also so that the “entire truth” of Gyanvapi mosque is revealed.
The Varanasi district court will hear the petition on Tuesday. The Gyanvapi complex has a total of eight cellars in two directions: north and south. Of these, six have already been surveyed by ASI. But two of them, N1 & S1, are still closed.
In the latest plea, Singh has contended that it is imperative to survey these cellars to establish the religious nature of the Gyanvapi premises since both Muslim and Hindu parties have made conflicting claims.
In particular, Singh has submitted that the entrances to cellars N1 and S1 are completely obstructed, making them inaccessible. These cellars could not be surveyed earlier by ASI because of blocked entrances.