In the courtroom, he stood quite inconspicuously behind all the other accused as the order was being read out. When the judge rose, he bowed as ceremoniously/courteously as all the others. All he did was talk to his lawyers after the order today. Not many people know perhaps that the accused mostly prepare for the worst as the trial proceeds.

The CBI lawyers were naturally, proud, though not like last time when a major order was given. That was when Justice Rane had pronounced sentence on Hiten Dalal,another stock broker, and the DIG of the CBI, Arup Patnaik, was in court with his full contingent of officers.

The arguments on sentence will start from Tuesday.

The press corps was in full attendance, though, due to an agency report which even the electronic media seemed to have picked up on Sunday evening. The threat of a morcha by SC/ST organisations to High Court had ensured a more than usual police presence. But the TV camera crews managed to get Mehta and his lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani. Expectedly, Mehta said: ``I have full faith in the Indian judiciary.'' And Jethmalani promised, ``We will move the apex court.''

The year-long trial was like any other, except for a little extra excitement created by the presence of Mohan Khandelwal, who had turned approver sometime in 1998 in the case. Khandelawal was the prosecution witness for the MUL case, but Mehta's sensational disclosure that he had paid a bribe to former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao (before the scam broke in 1992) resulted in the court'sorder to CBI to investigate that allegation in further detail.

But for those who were affected by the scam disclosures of May 1992, the wheels of justice are grinding slowly and surely.