Monday, May 30 2005 16:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The special court conducting the re-trial in the Best Bakery carnage today (May 30, 2005) adjourned the questioning of prime witness Zaheera Sheikh till tomorrow May 31, 2005), defence lawyers said.

Zaheera was present in the court but was not questioned, as special judge Abhay Thipsay was not well, defence lawyer said.

The court, on May 25, had asked Zaheera to remain present in the court today as it was to question her on certain aspects of the carnage.

After the prosecution concluded cross-examination of Zaheera on May 25 for the second time, the court expressed its desire to question the witness.

The prosecution was re-examining her in the light of the fresh evidence placed before the court in the form of two videos, one capturing the police rescue operations at the bakery a day after it was attacked on March 1, 2002 and the other focussing on Zaheera's interview taken by a television journalist some days after the attack on bakery.

As Zaheera had turned hostile during the re-trial in the special court in Mumbai, the prosecution decided to cross-examine her in the wake of fresh evidence presented to the court.

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.