Mumbai, July 07: Zahira Shaikh, a key witness who turned hostile in the sensational Best Bakery massacre case, today demanded the trial in the case be held outside Gujarat and accused a BJP MLA from Vadodara of threatening her, a charge denied by the legislator. She told reporters here she had approached a non-governmental organisation-- Citizens for Justice and Peace -- for help to file a petition in a higher court for a fresh trial outside the state.
Zahira alleged "local MLA Madhu Shrivastava and Vadodara Congress corporator Chandrakant Shrivastava used to threaten me over mobile phone".
She alleged she and her family had to undergo "pressures" for not identifying in the court the accused who had killed 14 people including her father, Habibullah Shaikh, on March one, 2002, in post-Godhra riots.
Zahira alleged they had been threatened by the accused and therefore out of fear they had gone back on their statements.


Zahira`s demand for trial outside Gujarat assumes significance in the backdrop of the National Human Rights Commission terming the acquittal of 21 accused in the case as "miscarriage of justice" and suggesting that Gujarat High Court order re-opening of the case.
On June 27, a court in Vadodara had acquitted 21 accused in this case due to lack of evidence, mainly due to witnesses turning hostile. Even Zahira had supported the prosecution.
Twelve persons were burnt alive in the bakery when it was set ablaze during a bandh called by Bajrang Dal in March last year to protest the Godhra train carnage. Bureau Report