The Army Court trying Lieutenant General P K Rath in the Sukna land scam on Wednesday rejected his petition to examine private realtor Dilip Agarwal, saying the defence was given ample opportunity to put questions to Agarwal when he was a court witness.
Presiding officer I J Singh took on record the letter purportedly written by Agarwal to the court claiming that Rath was innocent.
"The court has examined the letter. All issues stated in the letter were brought out when he (Agarwal) was a court witness. No additional clarification is needed," Singh ruled.
He said the court had given full opportunity to the defence to put questions to Agarwal but they declined to avail the opportunity at that time.
Rath had petitioned the court, seeking to recall Agarwal and examine him to clarify "certain missing links that may have a direct bearing on the case".
Rath's petition came after Agarwal wrote a letter to the General Court Martial, blaming Lieutenant General Ramesh Halgali for issuing no objection vertificates for construction on a piece of land adjacent to the military station.
Rath, a former 33 Corps Commander, contended that in his previous appearance as a court witness, "Agarwal was not allowed to give any statement nor was he given any chance to produce any document that he claims to have possessed. So he might have resorted to writing this letter to the GCM."
However, the GCM had refused to take cognisance of the letter after receiving it last week.
Responding to Rath's plea, the Army opposed it, saying that there was no such precedence of accepting last minute petitions during GCMs, sources said.
Meanwhile, the judge advocate of the court is likely to commence his summing up on Wednesday evening.
