Court adjourns matter till April 19

Mumbai, Apr 7: A Special court today adjourned till April 19, the hearing on 'perjury' notices issued to Best Bakery case prime witness Zaheera Sheikh and her family members for giving false evidence during the re-trial here.

Additional Sessions Judge Abhay Thipsay, who had conducted the re-trial and had issued show cause notices u/s 344 of CrPC (giving false evidence), adjourned the matter to the next date as Zaheera and her family members have not received the copy of the judgement so far.

Mr Thipsay further said that their counsel Umesh Deshpande would be supplied with the particulars, stating the false statements they had made in the court, on the basis of which they have to submit their replies on the next date.

Zaheera, her mother Sehrunnisa, brother Nasibullah and sister Sairabanu were today present in the court.

Sehrunnisa and Sairabanu appeared first time in the court since the perjury notice was issued after the death of Zaheera's brother Nafitullah on March 2.

Zaheera is currently undergoing one year simple imprisonment in civil prison at Byculla for contempt of court, awarded by Supreme court on March 8. Three days after the Apex court order, Zaheera had surrendered before the special court in Mumbai on March 10. She had pleaded that she be allowed to serve the sentence in Maharashtra, saying she feared for her life in Guajrat. However, on March 16, she somersaulted and said she wanted to undergo the jail term in Gujarat, alleging that Mumbai police would starve her to death.

Judge Thipsay had convicted nine accused to life imprisionment and acquitted eight others, the Best Bakery case despite Zaheera and her family members turning hostile.

UNI