Certain crucial documents related to the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, including a telegram from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the then Chief Minister Govind Vallabh Pant, have gone missing from the records of the UP government. During a hearing on May 27 and 28, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had directed the state government to produce the documents by July 7. The Bench, comprising Justices Rafat Alam, D V Sharma and Sudhir Agrawal, is hearing a bunch of petitions, arising from various claims over the disputed site. The litigation dates back to December 1949, when idols of Lord Ram were placed in the mosque.
The missing documents are: A telegram sent by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister GB Pant on January 15, 1950; Documents regarding action taken for the attachment of Babri Masjid in December 1949; A letter written by Deputy Commissioner of Faizabad KK Nayyar to Chief Secretary Bhagwan Sahai on July 20, 1949; A letter written by Chief Secretary Bhagwan Sahai to Deputy Commissioner KK Nayyar on September 30, 1949; Two letters written by the divisional commissioner of Faizabad to the chief secretary on July 20 and September 3, 1949; and two letters written by the deputy commissioner to the chief secretary on December 26 and 27, 1949.