Monday, April 25 2005 15:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Prime witness in the Best Bakery case, Zaheera Sheikh today (Apr 25, 2005) did not appear before the special court conducting a re-trial, as the summons which were issued to her were still not served on her, prosecution said.

The prosecution said that the summons which were issued to her on April 20, were not served on Zaheera, as she happened to be in New Delhi and it were issued at her address in Gujarat.

The special judge Abhay Thipsay had issued summons to Zaheera, her mother Sehrunissa and brother Nasibullah, after a prosecution plea of re-examining the three in light of the fresh evidence, which had come up.

Public prosecutor said that she wanted to examine Zaheera based on the material seen in the video CD shown to the court on April 4. The contents of the CD are in contradiction to what Zaheera, her mother and brother had said before the court on oath.

Even the investigation officer (IO), who had recorded Zaheera's statement after the Best bakery fire incident in 2002, had made several statements in the court that were in contradiction to what Zaheera had said.

The prosecution wants to confront Zaheera and the two others with the fresh evidence on CD and the IO's statement.

The special court in Mumbai is conducting the re-trial in the case following a Supreme Court directive to hold it in Maharashtra.

Fourteen persons were killed in the attack on the Best bakery at Vadodara on March one, 2002 during the Gujarat riots.