Best Bakery case witnesses had said that Teesta Setalvad asked them to lie

On Saturday, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad took so-called activist Teesta Setalvad into custody after an FIR for forgery was registered against her and others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. She had gone all guns blazing in coercing and forcing critical witnesses in the infamous Best Bakery case in which two key prosecution witnesses, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh and Zaheera Sheikh had said that they were lured and misguided by Setalvad for giving false testimony. However, it was noteworthy, when two of the witnesses from the family of Best Bakery owners, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh and earlier her sister-in-law, Zaheera Sheikh, appeared before different courts, they had said that they were lured and influenced by social activist Teesta Setalvad into giving false testimony against the accused. Bano, in April 2011, moved to the Bombay High Court alleging that she was “lured and misguided” into giving false testimony against 17 accused persons by Teesta Setalvad of whom 9 were given life imprisonment in 2006, just like Zaheera Sheikh had alleged that Teesta forced her to name innocent persons as guilty in the same Best Bakery case. In a submitted Affidavit, Yasmeen Bano said, “Teesta Setalvad made me give false testimony in the Best Bakery case by luring and misguiding me.