Lucknow, Apr 13 (IANS): Former special CBI judge Surendra Kumar Yadav, who delivered judgment in the Babri Masjid demolition case acquitting all 32 accused, has been appointed deputy Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh by Governor Anandiben Patel.

He is the third deputy Lokayukta of the state.

As special CBI court judge, Yadav had given the verdict in the case in September last year, acquitting all the 32 accused, including BJP veterans L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh.

The verdict said Babri Masjid demolition was not a 'pre-planned but a spontaneous act'.

Yadav retired as district and sessions judge, Lucknow, in September 2019 but on the directions of the Supreme Court, he was given extension to deliver judgment in the Babri mosque demolition case which he had been hearing since 2015.

As special judge (Ayodhya Prakaran), he had been conducting daily hearings in the case since 2017.

A resident of Jaunpur, he did his early schooling from Shahganj Madhyamik School and passed Class 10 from the DLW High School, Varanasi.

He took admission for a pre-university course in the BHU, Varanasi, and later did post-graduation in law.

The other two deputy Lokayuktas are Shambu Singh Yadav, who was appointed on August 4, 2016, and Dinesh Kumar Singh, who was appointed on June 6, 2020.

The tenure of the post is eight years.