aa5nov
08, May 2017
Police cover highlight of Zahira stay
– By Our Correspondent
Baroda, Nov. 4: No
room was available on the third floor of Hotel Airport in Baroda on
Wednesday and Thursday. The reason? The key eyewitness in the Best Bakery
case, Ms Zahira Sheikh, and her family members had rented two rooms on the
third floor of the hotel.
Even
the hotel lounge was crowded with men in khaki. When this correspondent
called the hotel to book a room on the third floor, he was flatly denied.
“We have strict orders from the police not to rent any room on the third
floor due to security reasons,” hotel managing director Karunakar Shetty
told The Asian Age.
Zahira
and her family remained in their rooms on Thursday and checked out in the
evening. Hotel Airport at Baroda has served many VIPs, including Lalu
Prasad Yadav, P.A. Sangma and business tycoon Kumar Mangalam BirlaÂ’s
grandfather. However, when a burqa-clad girl checked in on Wednesday
morning, the staff had no clue of her identity until her images were seen
on television in the afternoon.
Ms
Sheikh, along with her mother Sehrunnisa, brother Nafitullah,
sister-in-law Kailash alias Heena and sister Saira, had booked two rooms
on third floor of the plush hotel for two days.
The
hotel staff said a Toyota Qualis stopped at around 7 am in front of the
hotel. A lady in burqa approached the reception and asked for two double
rooms for a day, the tariff of each room being Rs 1,590, excluding 10 per
cent service tax.
Mr
Shetty told The Asian Age, “We were surprised to find the police following
the family. At least seven policemen were escorting the Sheikh family. The
police said the family was under police protection.”
The
family left the hotel along with the police at around 11 am on Wednesday
to meet the collector and later to the Surya Palace Hotel for the press
conference.
.
