A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Lucknow on Saturday issued summons to former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh to appear before it on September 27 in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case, PTI reported. He is an accused in the case.

Special Judge SK Yadav passed the order on an application the CBI moved the same day when Singh had demitted office as the governor of Rajasthan earlier this month. After completing his tenure as the governor, he lost his constitutional immunity from prosecution. He has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party again.

The court had asked the CBI to produce papers to show that the term of Singh as the governor had expired. However, the probe agency had sought time to produce them and said it did not receive the necessary documents from its headquarters.

Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the mosque was demolished by Hindutva activists on December 6, 1992.

The CBI said Singh was named in a chargesheet in 1993, and he could not face trial because Article 361 of the Constitution provides president of India and the state governors immunity in criminal and civil cases. According to the CBI, he gave assurances to the National Integration Council that he would not permit the demolition but allegedly acted against it. Singh allegedly did not order the deployment of central forces to stop the razing of the mosque.

In April 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered the revival of criminal conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders, including LK Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi. All the accused in the case are on bail.

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