A special court yesterday rejected the plea of former Bollywood actress Parveen Babi to give evidence on the alleged involvement of film actor Sanjay Dutt in the serial bomb blasts of 1993 in Mumbai.

Designated judge P.D. Kode did not permit the actress to depose before the court on the grounds that it was apparent she did not possess any legal evidence pertaining to the trial of Dutt and others facing serious charges under the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).

"Her failure to specify evidence relevant to this trial leads to a logical inference that the said writer does not possess any evidence," he said. The judge also warned her "that in future she should not indulge in any such frivolous attempts" and directed the court registrar to send a warning letter condemning her false claims.

The actress filed affidavits on July 14, 21, 26 and her last one on August 8, 2002, before which she was summoned on August 5 when she failed to appear before the court.

She has alleged that a conspiracy to acquit Dutt was hatched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and that various international intelligence agencies were behind the bomb blasts, with Dutt being a pawn in their hands.

The judge upheld the contention of public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that Babi's application be dismissed as she had failed to produce evidence against Dutt who is a prime accused in the bomb blasts case. Babi had also alleged the actor had got bail at the instance of the CBI.

However, she failed to depose before the court although three opportunities were given to her.

In each of her affidavits, Nikam said she kept adding the names of various agencies and governments, including the British government, the British secret service, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and even the Roman Catholic Church.

Though the court gave her an opportunity to depose before it, Babi did not produce the name and nature of evidence, the time of the commission of the act of crime and the reason why she did not approach the court earlier.

Babi said she had filed her affidavit in the TADA court on August 7, 2001 and was waiting for a year to be summoned by the court. However, when she was summoned on August 5 this year, she claimed that she did not come out of her house since she feared a threat to her life.

Pleading for the dismissal of Babi's allegations, Dutt's advocate Farhana Shah told the court, "Babi says that there is a threat to her life but every one has seen her on TV talking to mediapersons recently."

Shah also pointed out that it was the court which had to decide whether Dutt was guilty or not, while Babi referred to Dutt in her affidavit as one who "is already implicated and almost proven guilty of conspiracy in the TADA charges".