Zaheera denies charge

Prime Witness in the Best Bakery case Zaheera Sheikh today denied she had taken or demanded money from Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Madhu Srivastava to turn hostile.

Claiming innocence, Chandrakant Shrivastava alias Batthoo today dismissed as "baseless" the allegations of Tehelka of bribing Zaheera.

Addressing an impromptu press conference outside the special court after her deposition in the Best Bakery retrial, Zaheera said she did not even know the BJP legislator.

Replying to a query about the latest expose by Tehelka in a video clip, where Srivastava had been quoted as saying Zaheera demanded Rs 35 lakh and took Rs 18 lakh from him, the key witness said: "The allegations are false".

She alleged all it was a conspiracy hatched by social activist Teesta Setalvad and Chandrakant Srivastava, Congress Corporator from Vadodara who was also related to the BJP legislator, to "defame" her.

She said her earlier allegations about Madhu Srivastava threatening her to turn hostile were made at the instance of Setalvad.

Earlier, responding to a question by the prosecution about the allegation of her demanding Rs 35 lakhs from Madhu Srivastava and accepting Rs 18 lakhs, Zaheera repeatedly said "I am a god-fearing person and I have to face the allah".

When the question was repeated by the prosecutor, Zaheera said: "Tell me from whom I have accepted money?"