A court here on Thursday deferred to next week the hearing on a plea seeking handover of the keys of a basement in the Gyanvapi mosque to the Varanasi district magistrate.

The court posted the matter for hearing on November 29.

No work took place at the court as a mark of respect for a senior advocate who died recently, according to the petitioner Madan Mohan Yadav.

Yadav said in his plea that authorities had barricaded and locked the basement known as 'Vyas Ji ka Tehkhana' in 1993. Prior to it, the basement was used for worship by Somnath Vyas, a priest.

Yadav has pleaded that the key be handed over to the district magistrate, fearing that the contents in the basement could be tampered with.

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