Seventeen years after it was set up, the Liberhan Commission probing the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on Tuesday submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Commission, which had got 48 extensions, submitted the report to the Prime Minister by Retd Justice M S Liberhan in presence of Home Minister P Chidambaram. The contents of the report were not immediately known.

Set up within ten days of the demolition of the historic mosque on December six, 1992, which triggered widespread communal violence leading to heavy loss of lives, the panel has become the country's longest serving Commission of Enquiry. The Commission, mandated to inquire into the circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque was to submit its report by March 16, 1993 but sought repeated extensions to complete its probe.

The last three month extension was given in March this year. The probe panel was one of the costliest Commissions having spent nearly Rs eight crore. The bulk of the amount was spent on the salaries and perks of the supporting staff. During the extended proceedings spread over 400 sittings, the Commission recorded the statements of senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh. The panel had completed hearing the last witness in 2005.