Best Bakery case: Zahira's mother untraceable

Mumbai, July 8: Sehrunissa Shaikh, mother of Zahira Shaikh, the prime witness-turned-accused in the infamous Best Bakery case has dissapeared without trace, Umesh Deshpande, Counsel of Zahira Shaikh, and her family told UNI here today.

Yesterday Sehrunissa, who was out on bail, failed to appear before the sessions court in connection with the perjury case, for which she was awarded a suspended sentence of three months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500.

Deshpande stated that Sehrunissa's youngest son Nasibullah, who was present in the Court, informed about his mother's absence at their Bayandar residence, a suburb in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, a non-bailable warrant has been issued by the sessions Court against Sehrunissa for not being present in the Court for further hearing.

Deshpande has expressed doubts about the safety and well-being of his client citing unidentified threats as one of the reasons.

Nasibullah was unavailable for comment.

Earlier, the Apex Court had sentenced Zahira Shaikh to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 for filing false affadivits in the Best Bakery retrail.

Similarly, the sessions court in Mumbai also found Zahira and her sister Sahira guilty of perjury during retrial of the case and awarded three months of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 each to both.

At present, Zahira is undergoing her consecutive sentences at the Nashik Central Jail.

UNI