New plea filed in Mathura court on Lord Krishna birthplace

Mathura: A fresh plea was made on Tuesday to a Mathura court demanding the annulment of a 1967 court ruling ratifying a land deal between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and Shahi Idgah Management Committee, allowing the existence of the mosque near the temple.

The new petition was filed by a priest of Mathura’s old Keshav Dev Temple in the court of Senior Civil Judge Chhaya Sharma, the counsel for the priest, Rama Shankar Bharadwaj said.

Bharadwaj said in his petition, priest Pawan Kumar Shastri has also claimed that the entire 13.37 acres of land of the Katra Keshav Dev temple, including the land on which the 17h century Shahi Idgah mosque was built near the birthplace of Lord Shri Krishna, belonged to his ancestors, who have been serving as priests of the deity for decades.

Accordingly, Shastri has demanded the management of the entire 13.37 land should be given to him, he added.

Owing to Shastri’s inability to appear before the court on Tuesday, his plea would be taken up for hearing on Thursday, said advocate Bhardwaj.

The new plea has been filed against the secretary of Shahi Masjid Idgah’s management committee, the president of Sunni Waqf Board Lucknow and the managing trustees of Shri Krishna Janmabhumi Trust and Shri Krishna Seva Sansthan of Mathura’s Katra Keshav Dev temple, the counsel said.