Rane had made a controversial statement in a press conference after the November 26, 2008, attacks, suggesting a nexus between Indian politicians and terrorists.
Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Kasab sought to get state revenue minister Narayan Rane as a defence witness. The court has shot down this plea.
On the other hand, the other accused, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Shaikh, said they did not want to get any defence witnesses. This leaves way for prosecution and defence arguments. When this completes, the court will pronounce the judgment. The court has given both the prosecution and the defence time till February 20 to prepare for their final arguments.
Rane had made a controversial statement in a press conference after the November 26, 2008, attacks, suggesting a nexus between Indian politicians and terrorists.
In the light of this statement, a PIL was filed in the Bombay high court. Rane had defended the statement, saying he was quoting from the Vohra Committee report filed in the 1993 serial blasts case.
Kasab’s defence advocate KP Pawar said he had read a newspaper article about it and wanted Rane to depose about it in the court.
“There are serious charges of conspiracy, waging war against country etc against my client. This conspiracy is not restricted to my client,” said Pawar.
When first additional principal judge ML Tahaliyani indicated that it might not be relevant to summon Rane, Pawar said, “This witness is a very responsible person. Let him come. Unless he comes into the witness box, the picture will not be clear.”
The judge, in his order, stated that the entire exercise of getting
this defence witness to court to build up their defence will be “futile” and “wasting the court’s precious time”.
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