Social activist Teesta Setalvad, accused by the Best Bakery prime witness Zaheera Sheikh of forcing her to make false statements, on Saturday moved the Supreme Court seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into Zaheera's volte-face.
In an application filed with the apex court, Setalvad said the Best Bakery trial was transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai on the basis of an affidavit filed by Zaheera detailing a complete lack of cooperation from the investigating and prosecuting agencies.
Setalvad, who runs the Citizens for Justice and Peace, an NGO, has questioned in her application: "Who arranged for the press conference [in which Zaheera retracted her statement]? What was the Baroda police commissioner doing when the prime witness in the Bakery case was turning hostile?"
Terming Zaheera's allegations against her as baseless, Setalvad said that all the affidavits written in English were translated into Hindi for Zaheera before she signed them.
On November 3, Zaheera had accused the CJP of 'pressuring' her into making statements and naming 'innocent persons' in the ongoing retrial in Mumbai. She had also sought protection from Gujarat police.
