Zaheera Sheikh released from Nashik jail

Prime witness in the Best Bakery case, Zaheera Sheikh, was on Wednesday released from a jail in Nashik after serving one-year imprisonment for contempt of court, jail sources said.

The Supreme Court, which had imposed a fine Rs 50,000 on Zaheera or additional imprisonment of three months, had on March 7 waived off the penalty because of her poor financial condition.

Zaheera's counsel Umesh Deshpande had informed the Supreme Court that she had already undergone the one-year jail term awarded to her on March 8, 2006. She was held in the Nashik Road Central Jail.

Earlier, Zaheera had moved the apex court seeking review of the verdict imposing the fine after she was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment for her "flip-flop" in the Best Bakery case.

The court had taken strong note of her averments that she was exploited by certain politicians after the Gujarat riots of 2002.

The court had expressed its strong displeasure asking Zaheera's counsel to divulge the names of politicians who had allegedly exploited her.

Zaheera had turned hostile during the trial of the case and was severely reprimanded for her flip flops.

Seeking waiving off the fine, Zaheera had submitted that she was not in a position to pay the fine imposed due to her poor financial condition.

The apex court had punished Zaheera after a report of the high-powered inquiry committee appointed by it had indicted her as a "self-condemned liar."