MP Sanjay Raut of Maharashtra, representing the Shiv Sena, will face the CBI’s special court in Lucknow on June 23 (Friday) in the 1992 Ayodhya Babri Masjid demolition case. He will be the second witness to be called by the CBI after the Supreme Court ordered day-to-day hearing of the case.

He will also be the second of 660 witnesses to be heard by the court.

The summon to the MP was sent on June 16.

The courts have already heard 197 witnesses, and the Supreme Court has directed that the special court will go through 660 witnesses and might even call up any of the 197 witnesses who have already deposed, if it feels so. The apex court has set a two-year timeline to complete the proceedings of the case.

The special court’s first witness earlier this month was Habibullah, a tailor, who had his tailoring shop nearest to the venue when the mosque was razed to the ground.

The special court took time to settle down, with all the paperwork, and is just about getting into business.

—India Legal Bureau