Best: Cops blame lack of access

The matter was first reported in The Indian Express, with Sehrunissa telling the newspaper that she retracted her statement in court due to the threats.

Zaheera and her mother, in a common affidavit, had alleged that they retracted their statements against the accused in the fast-track court because of threats from BJP legislator Madhu Srivastava, his cousin Chandrakant Srivastava, their neighbour Lal Mohammed and some others.

Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha, when contacted, said investigations had been delayed because of non-cooperation from Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based activist who is sheltering Zaheera and her family. ‘‘She has been postponing our meeting with Zaheera and her mother on one pretext or the other,’’ said Sinha.

Assistant Commissioner of Police R.J. Pargi, who is investigating the allegations, said he visited Mumbai once but was not allowed to meet Zaheera.

He said he sent several summons to Zaheera, requesting an appointment with her for recording her statement in the matter. He added that initially, she refused to give time but a month ago, in reply to another summons, she said she would let him know the date and time for recording her statement. ‘‘However, we have not received any message from her so far,’’ said Pargi.

However, Setalvad, when contacted over the phone, said she had told the Vadodara police to come to Mumbai to record Zaheera’s statement because Zaheera and her family could not be taken to Gujarat for obvious reasons. ‘‘But they have not come,’’ said Setalvad, adding that the ‘‘Vadodara police have not contacted me during the last six months’’.

She also said that the Santa Cruz police in Mumbai had already recorded Zaheera’s statement in connection with the threats.

The fast-track court had acquitted all the accused in the Best Bakery case in June 2003 after both Zaheera and her mother retracted their statements.

Acting on affidavits by Zaheera and her mother in this connection in September 2003, the Supreme Court asked the state government to inquire into the allegations. The State Home Department, in turn, asked the Vadodara Police Commissioner to institute an inquiry into it and Pargi was assigned the job.