Vadodara, Oct 05: Police was ready to provide protection to all the 16 eye witnesses in the best bakery case, in which 12 persons were allegedly burnt alive during the post-Godhra riots here last year, city police commissioner Sudhir Kumar Sinha said today. This would depend on the order of Gujarat High Court, where the state government has filed an amended petition, he told newspersons here. The case is to come up before the court on December 1.
The fast track court had examined 12 out of a total of 16 witnesses in the case as summons to four others could not be served as they were outside the city.
Meanwhile, Teesta Setalwad of communalism combat has informed city police commissionerate from Mumbai that the key witness Zahira was 'not interested' in recording her statement from Vadodara and would rather stick to her version in the petition filed in Supreme Court in this regard, Sinha said.
Sinha said police wanted to record her statement in connection with her statement in the apex court that she had turned hostile after receiving threats.
Zahira, who had urged that the hearing be shifted out of Gujarat, has been with Setalwad's since the best bakery verdict that had acquitted all the 21 accused for want of evidence.
Bureau Report