Vadodara: Police was ready to provide protection to all the 16 eyewitnesses in the Best Bakery case, in which 12 persons were allegedly burnt alive during post-Godhra riots last year, according to city Police Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Sinha.

This would depend on the order of Gujarat High Court, where the state government has filed an amended petition, he said. The case is to come up before the court on December 1.

The fast track court had examined 12 out of a total of 16 witnesses in the case as summons to four other witnesses could not be served as they were outside Vadodara city.

Meanwhile, Teestsa Setalwad of Communalism Combat has informed Vadodara Police Commissionerate from Mumbai that the key witness Zahira was "not interested" in recording of her statement by the police team from Vadodara and would rather stick to her version in the petition filed in Supreme Court in this regard, Sinha said.

Sinha said that police wanted to record her statement in connection with her statement in the apex court that she had turned hostile in the fast track court after receiving threats.

Zahira, who had urged that the hearing be shifted out of Gujarat, has been with Setalwad since the Best Bakery verdict that had acquitted all the 21 accused for want of evidence.

PTI