The Court had given time till Tuesday to the accused to furnish their written arguments. As mandated by the Supreme Court, the special CBI Court has to deliver its verdict by the end of this month.
It is significant to mention here that except for Kalyan Singh, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and co-accused in the case, no other accused neither produced any documents nor witnesses in their defence.
Interestingly, the accused earlier this month had moved an application seeking time to furnish documents in their defence.
ET last week had reported that two prosecution witnesses in the Babri Masjid demolition trial had moved the special CBI Court – Lucknow seeking permission to be represented by a private lawyer, at a time when the trial is in its final stages.
Haji Mehboob and Syed Ikhlaq – represented by their lawyer M M Haq – had also said that they want to produce “additional evidence” on record which would prove that they were victimised during the demolition of the mosque in 1992.
The Court had, however, turned down their plea earlier this week.
As per available information, the two had decided to file a revision plea against the Court’s order but the same has not been done so far.
The two prosecution witnesses support the CBI’s case against the 32 accused, including high profile BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti.
The witnesses had not clarified what “additional evidence” they wish to produce in the case.
In their testimonies recorded earlier, they had submitted that they had witnessed the killing of family members, destruction of property and cattle by a mob during the demolition.
In response to questions put by the Court, former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, and co-accused have denied involvement in the demolition. Advani has said that he had been falsely implicated and that the case was politically motivated.
Another co-accused and BJP stalwart M M Joshi has also denied involvement in the case. Last month, Joshi informed the Court that he would produce witnesses in his defence to prove his “innocence”.