A computer hard disk containing vital evidence related to the Ayodhya court case was stolen from an Islamic institution in Lucknow last month.

The disk was removed from the personal computer of Zafaryab Jilani, the counsel for the Sunni Central Waqf Board, the main litigant in the case pending before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.

Jilani also happens to be the manager of the Islamia College located in the heart of Lucknow.

On the night of June 19-20, a burglar broke into the college office and removed the hard disks of five computers.

While Jilani lodged a report with the police soon after, the matter was kept under wraps all these days. The matter came to light on Friday evening when a college employee spilled the beans.

"Apparently, the burglar knew what he was looking for, but since he was not sure which of the computers had the hard disk he was targeting he decided to remove and carry away all of them," Jilani told rediff.com on Saturday.

He said, "Well, some of the evidence is available in the court files, but I am sure there are quite a few vital clues that I will never be able to lay my hands on now."

Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police Vijay Kumar described the burglary as 'rather strange'. "This is the first time that I have come across a case where a burglar was targeting only a few computer hard disks and not touching any other valuable item."