Since June 2014, five hearings are being held every month, but the Ajmer shrine blast case has suffered a setback as 20 of the 90 witnesses cross-examined, have turned hostile so far.
One more witness in the Ajmer shrine blasts case, Ram Charan Patel turned hostile in a Jaipur court today, bringing the total number of hostile witnesses to 20, in a case in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has charged right wing extremists including some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members for the blast which killed three and injured 15 people in 2007.
Mr Patel had earlier testified to providing shelter to a key accused, Sunil Joshi and four others a year before the blast in Ajmer. Two months after the blasts, Sunil Joshi was shot dead at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.
But Mr Patel has now denied any knowledge of knowing either Sunil Joshi or any of his four accomplices.
Earlier, these statements were recorded in before a judicial magistrate to ensure there is no pressure from investigators. But starting in November 2014, they began to turn hostile claiming that they were pressured by the anti-terror agency to testify. The last such flip by a witness was in May 2015.
Since June 2014, five hearings are being held every month, but the case has suffered a setback as 20 of the 90 witnesses cross-examined, have turned hostile so far.
The RSS is BJP's ideological mentor, and heads the Sangh Parivar, an umbrella of Hindu nationalist organisations.
In June, the special public prosecutor in the Malegaon case in which Sangh Parivar members are accused, Rohini Salian had said that since the change of government last year, she has been asked to go soft on the case by an NIA official.