Zaheera's sister found guilty of perjury, verdit tomorrow

Mumbai, June 7 (UNI) The Special court today found Sahirabanu, sister of prime witness in the Best Bakery Case Zahira Sheikh, guilty of perjury and reserved its order on the quantum of sentence till tomorrow.

Special Court Judge Abhay Thipsay, while presiding over the Best Bakery case, today recorded the evidence of Sahirabanu, who admitted that she had lied on certain statements at the time of deposition here.

Replying to queries raised by the court today Sahirabanu said she did not know how her sister Sabira died, neither did she remember the names of the servants working in Best Bakery and how they died.

She also denied that the police had recorded her statement. And when the court pointed out that in her deposition in Vadodara court, she had stated that police had called her and recorded the statement, she denied it and said she had never said so.

After recording her statement, the court said she was being held guilty for giving false evidence and then reserved the order till tomorrow.

Earlier, while acquitting eight of the total 21 accused on February 24, perjury notices had been u/s 344 of CrPC to Zahira and her family members this year, asking why action should not be taken against them for giving false and misleading evidence to the court during re-trial. Later on March 8, the Apex court had sentenced Zahira to one year imprisonment for contempt of court.

She is undergoing the sentence in Byculla civil jail here.

Zahira's mother Sehrunisa Sheikh was also found guilty of perjury.

The re-trial of the Best Bakery case, in which 14 people were burnt to death by a mob on March 1, 2002, at Vadodara, was held on the order of Supreme Court after Zahira and a voluntary group had appealed against the acquittal of all the accused by a Vadodara's fast track court. The Gujarat High Court had upheld the order of the trial court.

UNI ST-GVS KU YA KN1935