Wednesday, May 4 2005 16:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: A special court today (May 4, 2005) issued bailable warrants against mother and brother of prime witness Zaheera Sheikh in the Best Bakery re-trial being held in Mumbai.

On a prosecution plea, special judge Abhay Thipsay issued warrants against Zaheera's mother Sehrunissa and her brother Nasibullah, asking them to appear tomorrow (May 5, 2005) for re-examination in the light of fresh evidence, which has come up, prosecution lawyer said.

"They are most likely to appear before the special court tomorrow or the day after that," the lawyer said, adding Zaheera's lawyer had indicated difficulty in their appearance tomorrow but assured their presence on May 6.

Prosecution said that they did not press for warrant against Zaheera, as she was currently before the Godhra commission.

The prosecution wants to examine Zaheera and her kin based on the material seen in the video CD shown to the court on April 4. The video captures the police rescue operations on March 2, 2002, the day after Best Bakery was attacked by a violent crowd during the post Godhra riots.

The contents of the CD are in contradiction to what Zaheera, her mother and brother had told the court on oath.

Meanwhile, the defence today finished the cross- examination of investigating officer in the case H G Baria.

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

The special court here 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 1, 2002 during the Gujarat riots.