Monday, January 17 2005 22:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Zaheera Shaikh, prime witness in the Best bakery case, today (Jan 17, 2005) said she had opened her account in a bank at Mumbai with the help of her former mentor, activist Teesta Setalvad.

She said a man sent by the activist had helped her open the account.

Replying to questions put forward by special prosecutor Manjula Rao, Zaheera said the she had a joint account with her younger brother Nasibullah and not Nafitullah.

She, however, could not recollect the name of the bank where she holds the account.

Rao had pointed out a media report, which said that she and her brother Nafitullah had account with Syndicate Bank at Bhayander which had seen a deposit of various amount totalling upto Rs two lakh over a period of four months between 2002 and 2003.

Zaheera said that she holds another account with Bank of Baroda in Vadodara.

Speaking about the day of the attack at the bakery, she said the fire had killed 12 persons in her house and added that three of those killed belonged to her neighbour Aslam's family.

The special court is conducting re-trial into the Best bakery carnage that occurred on March 1, 2002.