Vinay Katiyar was a defiant, hostile witness: Liberhan

"Vinay Katiyar was defiant and adopted a hostile attitude as a witness. Although his total denial of the obvious and clearly established are farcical and on one extreme, the other leaders also did best to deny information to the commission by resorting to various processes including various processes including non appearance despite summons," the commission observed.

"Vinay Katiyar even candidly denied facts admitted by L.K. Advani etc. For example, that all the leaders had gathered at Katiyar's house for breakfast before proceeding to the disputed site on December 6, 1992."

About the interlinking of various outfits in the incident, Justice Liberhan said: "It was a daunting task for me to discern the inter se relationship between the karsevaks and the institutions, their members, various organisations, parties..., especially in the face of the conscious attempts at disinformation.

"For obvious reasons, the various leaders and especially those who played a prominent part in the events have sought to obfuscate and confuse reality. There are nay number of explanations...which are not only misleading, but also serve the practical purpose of keeping these inter se linkages hidden."

The report further indicted Katiyar and said: "Vinay Katiyar, the self-proclaimed and self-confessed forerunner of the Mandir construction movement, projected himself and his Bajrang Dal to be as devoted to the movement, as Hanumanji was to Lord Ram Chander".
It also slammed officials of the Uttar Pradesh government for not cooperating in the inquiry. The state's advocate general and senior police officials holding responsible positions did not cooperate enough or provide required information.

The Liberhan Commission had probed the Babri Masjid demolition for 17 years and submitted its report in June this year. The report was tabled in the parliament Tuesday, a day after political uproar in parliament over its leak to the media.