Tuesday, April 19 2005 09:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A Supreme Court appointed high-powered committee yesterday (Apr 18, 2005) recorded the statement of Best Bakery case key witness Zaheera Sheikh after examining her for over two hours.

The Committee, headed by Registrar General B M Gupta and comprising Delhi Police Joint Commissioner Kanwaljit Deol, was set up by the Apex Court to probe the veracity of the contradictory statement of Zaheera as well as the alleged lapses committed by social activists Teesta Setalvad.

The proceedings will continue today (Apr 19, 2005).

The committee, which began its probe on April 6, has been entrusted to find out in four months who was telling the truth - Zaheera or Teesta.

Faced with doubts created by Zaheera not only about her own statements but also Setalvad's credentials, the Supreme Court had on January 10 ordered a high-level probe into the issue.

Conceding that the situation was "delicate", a Bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice H K Sema had directed the Registrar General of the Apex Court to take the help of an inspector general rank official from Delhi Police and conduct a probe about the basis of the statements of Zaheera and the affidavits filed by Teesta in the Apex Court.

While Zaheera has retracted from her statement time and again, alleging during her last turnaround that she was held captive by Teesta who minted money by selling the Bakery case abroad, the activist-lawyer alleged that the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Vadodara lured her through huge amount of money to change her statement.