Vadodara: Apparently buckling under its severe indictment by Supreme Court in the Best Bakery case, Gujarat Police on October 6 registered an offence against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Waghodia constituency Madhu Srivastav and four others for allegedly intimidating the witnesses of the incident.

Police registered the case after Nafitullah Sheikh, brother of key witness Zahira, on October 6 gave an application to Vadodara police alleging that Srivastav, his cousin Chandrakant Srivastav and three others had threatened the family of dire consequences, just 10 days before the trial was to commence, Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) sources said.

Nafitullah in his complaint alleged that he was taken to Congress councillor Chandrakant Srivastav's residence by another witness Rehamtullah and it was here that the BJP MLA told him to that he and his family refrain from testifying in the court, else face dire consequences.

Out of the total 73, 37 witnesses including Zahira had turned hostile during the trial, leading to acquittal of all the 21 accused, on June 27 this year.

Twelve persons were charred to death when frenzied mob torched the Bakery in March last year.

Offences have been registered against Srivastav and four others under section 506, 507 and 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), sources said.

The BJP MLA Madhu Srivastav is presently on tour to UK and US to meet his friends and relatives there.

Both Srivastav and his cousin brother Chandrakant had persistently denied any role in coercing Zahira and others in the case.

PTI