A team of the Archaeological Survey of India has started a scientific survey to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple is built upon a temple.
Advocate of the Hindu side Madan Mohan Yadav said the ASI team started the survey of the Gyanvapi complex at around 7 am on Monday.
He added that an advocate each of the petitioners is accompanying the survey team.
District judge A K Vishvesh on Friday directed the ASI to conduct a detailed scientific survey — including excavations, wherever necessary — to determine if the mosque in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is built upon a temple.
The mosque’s ‘wazukhana’, where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a ‘shivling’ exists, will not be part of the survey, following an earlier Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the complex.
The judge directed the ASI to submit a report to the court by August 4, along with videos and photographs of survey proceedings