Vadodara: The city police is in search of Nafitullah, brother of Zahira Shaikh, a key witness in the Best Bakery case, for recording his statement after he alleged that Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA Madhu Srivastav and four others had threatened the family of dire consequences, police said here on October 12.

Nafitullah, in his statement before the Supreme Court, had alleged that just 10 days before the trial was to commence in the fast track court, he was taken to Congress Corporator Chandrakant Srivastav's premises by another witness Rehamtullah where BJP MLA Madhu Srivastav asked him and his family to refrain from testifying in the court, or else face dire consequences.

On the basis of this statement, police registered an offence against Madhu Srivastav, Chandrakant Srivastav, Rehmuttalh, Lalmohamed and an unidentified person.

Police told reporters, it was necessary to record the statement of Nafitullah for further investigations into the case.

Police were trying to locate him in Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where some of the employees of Best Bakery and family members of Zahira Shaikh have been staying.

Police will also record the statement of the witnesses present when Nafitullah was 'threatened', and a team may visit Mumbai, UP, Bihar and other places, police said.

After completing the formalities, police would record the statement of Srivastav, who returned on October 11 from his trip to the United States and United Kingdom. On his return, Srivastav, however, dismissed the charges as 'baseless' and as an 'attempt to tarnish his image'.

After 21 persons were acquitted in the case, Zahira had demanded re-trial of the case outside Gujarat also alleging that Srivastav had threatened her.

PTI