Lucknow, May 20 (ANI): Former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and 20 other Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Pavivar leaders got a reprieve on Thursday with the Allahabad High Court rejecting a plea to revive criminal cases against them in the Babri Mosque demolition case.

The Lucknow Bench of the court dismissed a plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to revive criminal cases against these accused.

The High Court decision implies that trial in criminal cases related the demolition would now be held against 26 little-known Sangh Parivar workers.

In his judgment, Justice Alok Kumar Singh said nothing has been found against the correctness, legality, propriety or regularity in respect of any of the findings of the lower court.

The CBI had sought the court’s intervention to revive criminal cases against Advani and others, against whom the trial court had dropped the charge of criminal conspiracy for the mosque’s demolition on December 6, 1992 at Ayodhya.

Besides Advani, those who benefit from the High Court’s order include senior leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal. (ANI)