Varanasi, Jun 1 (IANS): In a major development, the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS) chief Jitendra Singh Visen, whose niece Rakhi Singh is one of the plaintiffs in the Gyanvapi mosque case, has removed the Hindu litigant lawyer Hari Shankar Jain.

Visen has also announced his resignation from the Hind Samarajya Party formed by Jain in 2021.

"I have resigned from Hind Samarajya Party in which I held the posts of National Convenor and National General Secretary," he told IANS on Wednesday.

Asked about the impact of their split on the future of the Gyanvapi case, Visen said, "Jain is simply an advocate in this case and an advocate can be changed any time."

Hari Shankar Jain said, "Differences started arising as his (Visen) ambitions started gaining momentum. He entered this case on my invitation and his niece Rakhi Singh was made a petitioner on his request. The other four plaintiffs Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak are with me. All this will not affect this case in any way."

Differences between Jain and Visen had started surfacing with beginning of the Court Commission survey after May 6 when the VVSS chief's said that he would withdraw the case went viral on social media.

On May 9, Visen took a U-turn and said he had made the statement for other five cases related to Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi matter, in which he is a plaintiff.

After the Shringar Gauri case was transferred from the court of civil judge (senior division) to district judge court on the order of the Supreme Court hearing on maintainability started, Visen filed a petition independently before the court of civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar on May 24, seeking ban on entry of Muslims in Gyanvapi premises, handing it over to Hindus and permitting regular 'puja' (worshipping) of Lord Aadi Visheshwar.