Mumbai: The prosecution in the Best Bakery case has informed the trial court that one of the witnesses in police escort had disappeared and therefore will not be available to tender evidence.

The prosecution has already examined 27 witnesses and among them were two eyewitnesses.

The sudden disappearance of a witness in police escort has come as a surprise in legal circles as great care had been taken to ensure that they were given adequate protection in view of the Supreme Court directive.

The apex court had ordered retrial of this case in Mumbai as eyewitness Zaheera Shaikh informed that she and her family had not spoken truth before trial court in Gujarat as they had been threatened.

Defence lawyers today urged the court to provide them with a copy of the prosecution's application about the alleged disappearance of the witness.

The court is expected to hear both the sides before passing an order on the plea made by defence lawyers.

Defence lawyer Adik Shirodkar told reporters that the prosecution had moved an application a copy of which they are seeking.

The prosecution, however, maintained that the contents of application were not relevant to the case and were confidential.