‘Armed mob of 500 set afire bakery, vehicles’

‘‘400-500 log hath me lukka aur talwar leke bakery ki tarf bhag rahe the aur chilla rahe the ‘inko maro inko kato’...hum...

‘‘400-500 log hath me lukka aur talwar leke bakery ki tarf bhag rahe the aur chilla rahe the ‘inko maro inko kato’…hum sab upar jaane lage to Quasar aur Lula ko talwar se mare…phir woh log bakery ko bhi aag laga diye

(A mob of 400-500 persons with torches and swords attacked the bakery screaming, ‘kill them, hack them’…we ran inside, but they had attacked Quasar and Lula with swords…and then they set fire to the bakery).’’

This was what Taufel Ahmed Sheikh, the first eyewitness to depose in the Best Bakery retrial recalled before a special court in Mumbai on Tuesday. A worker at the bakery at the time of the Gujarat riots, Taufel has since moved to Navgarh in UP.

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According to Taufel, around 8.30 pm that night, he and his colleagues — Sajjad, Rais, Baliram, Ramesh, Quasar and Prakash — were sitting outside the bakery, which belonged to prime witness Zaheera Sheikh’s father Habibulla.

All of a sudden, a mob armed with torches and swords came charging at them. The men tried to run inside, but Quasar and Lula fell down. They were carried into the bakery and laid down on the first floor (Quasar and Lula went missing later that night and were never found).

‘‘The mob then torched autorickshaws and motorbikes belonging to the bakery’s owners,’’ said Taufel. ‘‘Then they set fire to a warehouse across the street before finally setting upon the bakery.’’

The employees had, meanwhile, taken shelter on the terrace, he said adding Zaheera, her mother, her sister Sahira and two brothers were also there. ‘‘They spent the entire night on the terrace, where the mob threw bottles filled with kerosene.’’ Taufel’s deposition will continue tomorrow.