The Archaeological Survey of India, on Monday, started a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, excluding the wuzu khana, to ascertain if the mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple but it had to stop the survey work after the Supreme Court issued a stay order on it till 5 pm on July 26.

The Gyanvapi management committee, Anjuman Intezamia Committee, boycotted the survey work asserting that it has moved the Supreme Court seeking stay on it and the apex court was to hear the matter on Monday.

The apex court has halted the “detailed scientific survey” till 5 pm on July 26, saying “some breathing time” needed to be granted to appeal against the order.

Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said the survey work had been stopped in view of the apex court’s order.

Following the order of the district court, four teams of the ASI started a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, excluding the wuzu khana, sealed on the order of the Supreme Court. The 30-member ASI team entered the Gyanvapi complex around 7 am amidst the tight security arrangement to carry out the survey in accordance with a Varanasi court’s order.

The ASI team took a measurement of the premises during the survey that lasted around four hours but had to stop the survey work as in the meantime, the stay order of the apex court halting the survey till 5 pm on July 26 on the plea of Anjuman Intezamia Committee reached here. The Supreme Court has directed the Anjuman Intezamia Committee to move the Allahabad High Court in Prayagraj seeking proper direction into the matter.

The four teams of ASI started the survey work at 7 in the morning on Monday and the team members took a measurement of the Gyanvapi premises excluding the sealed wuzu khana, during the survey that lasted around four hours, an advocate of Hindu sides, Sudhir Nandan Chaturvedi, informed media persons after coming out from the Gyanvapi premises when the survey work was stopped by the ASI,

The entire premises was inspected and measured and four teams were deployed at the four corners, he said, adding that the survey proceedings had been recorded by installing four cameras at the four corners of the mosque. The stones and bricks on the premises were also inspected, Chaturvedi said.

“We are sure that the entire complex belongs to the temple and the result of the survey will be in our favour,” he added.

During the survey work, the advocates of Hindu sides and plaintiffs who sought the ASI survey were also present in the Gyanvapi premises.

Vishnu Shankar Jain, another counsel representing the petitioners, said, “We will go to the high court and argue on this issue within two days.”

“A wrong statement is being given by the Muslim side that vandalism is being done in the campus, while only measurement and mapping work is being carried out during the survey,” he said.

District Judge Dr Ajay Krishna Vishvesha had directed the ASI on Friday to conduct the detailed scientific survey — including excavations, wherever necessary — to determine if the mosque was built at a place where a temple existed earlier.

The mosque’s "wuzu khana” (a small reservoir for Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering namaz), where a structure claimed by the Hindu litigants to be a “Shivling” exists, will not be a 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 video clips and photographs of the survey proceedings.