The prosecution in the Best Bakery case received a jolt on Wednesday when a witness turned hostile in a special court in Mumbai saying he had not seen the crowd torching the bakery on March 1, 2002.

Kanchanbhai Mali, the 43rd witness in the case, went back on his deposition before the Vadodara court by telling the special court that he had not witnessed any incidents of arson on the ill-fated day.

Mali, whose residence is barely 40 feet away from the bakery, had told the court earlier that he had seen a group of persons setting fire to the bakery.

On Wednesday, he said that his Vadodara deposition was based on hearsay.

Earlier, prime witness Zaheera Sheikh and her brothers, Nafitullah and Nasibulla, had turned hostile.

It was on Zaheera's plea that the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the Best Bakery case in a special court at Mumbai.

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