She said she would not sign the papers allowing the hearing to begin in the absence of her defence lawyer Manik Mulik and her sister Seema; the latter persons failed to turn up in court.

On resumption of proceedings in court of additional sessions judge G L Yedke, Renuka protested against the alleged harassment in prison and said the authorities were turning a deaf ear to their grievances.

When judge G L Yedke pointed out that she was putting the witnesses to unwarranted inconvenience, Renuka agreed to comply, but after she was permitted to confer with her lawyer.

Meanwhile, deposing before judge G L Yedke, panch witness Ramchandra Ladoba Gavande identified the photograph of Pankaj, a child who was brutually murdered by the accused and told thecourt that it was the same photograph provided to the police the victim's father Suhas Mhamulkar.

Gavande, a food vendor at Dadar Central in Mumbai, informed the court that he and his friend Ashok Kumbhar had signed on the back side of the photograph as panch, when Mhamulkar handed it over to police at his residence on November 28, 1996.

He also denied defence lawyer's point that he was making false statement before the court pointing out that the panchanama of Pankaj's photograph was prepared in his presence at the residence of Mhamulkar and not at the police station.

He also denied the allegations levelled by the defence lawyer that he was not present during preparation of the panchnama. Advocate Ashwine Nipane, Mulik's assistant conducted the cross-examination in his absence.