E/CN.4/1997/91/Add.1 page 22 conspiracy, if any, in all its ramifications and to relentlessly pursue the offenders till they are brought to book. With this view, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was entrusted with the investigations into the offences connected with the demolition of the disputed structure on 6 December 1992. After having carried out these investigations the CBI filed a combined charge-sheet against 40 persons before the Special Court at Lucknow. The Special Court passed the committal order and sent the case to the Judge of the Court of Special Additional Sessions at Lucknow, for trial and proceedings. In the meantime, the CBI with the permission of the Court, conducted further investigations in the case and filed a supplementary charge-sheet before the Special Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow, against nine more persons on 11 January 1996. The Court has taken cognizance of the additional charge-sheet. The 49 persons charged include prominent leaders of the Bhartiya Janta Party, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the Ishwa Hindu Parishad. 5. The Central Government also appointed the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry to inquire, inter alia , into the sequence of events leading to, and all the facts and circumstances relating to, the occurrences in the Ram Janmabhumi (birthplace of Ram)-Babri Masjid (Babri mosque) complex at Ayodhya on 6 December 1992. The tenure of the Commission has been extended from time to time. It is presently up to 31 March 1997. The Government has requested the Commission to complete the inquiry within the extended tenure. 6. On the basis of evidence of the Central Government and other records with the Commission, the Commission issued Section 8B notices (Commission of Inquiry Act) to 41 persons and to 5 organizations, namely, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayam-Sewak Sangh (RSS) and Shiv Sena. The 41 persons are 28 political/religious leaders and 13 officers of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Most of the noticees submitted applications to the Commission requesting, inter alia , that it supply the relevant material/evidence on the basis of which the 8B notices had been issued to them. The Commission rejected these applications. Seventeen of the noticees filed as many as six written petitions against the 8B notices and the order of the Commission rejecting their applications in the Delhi High Court and one such petition in the Lucknow Bench of Allahabab High Court. The Delhi High Court in its judgement dated 23 July 1996 upheld both the order and the 8B notices of the Commission, except that part of the notice which requires the noticees to state their case on affidavit and file documents, if any, in support of their case. This part of the notice was struck down by the Court. Accordingly, the parties filed their lists of witnesses. The Commission, after scrutiny, has issued a press note summoning approximately 22 witnesses. The cross-examination of these witnesses is continuing. -----