‘Gyanvapi Mosque built on remains of pre-existing temple’

Varanasi: The lawyer of the Hindu petitioners in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi case Thursday claimed the report of a scientific survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) suggests the mosque was built on the remains of a pre-existing temple.

Vishnu Shankar Jain told reporters here the copies of the 839-page report were made available to the parties concerned by the court late Thursday evening.

The report makes it clear that the mosque, which stands adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, was built on the remains of a grand Hindu temple after it was demolished in the 17th century during the reign of Aurangzeb, he said. He also claimed that the survey report has sufficient evidence of the existence of a temple at the place where the the mosque now stands.