Best Bakery key witness Zaheera Sheikh, who was handed down a one-year imprisonment by the Supreme Court for committing contempt by lying before it, Monday moved the apex court seeking reduction of her sentence.

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Zaheera in her petition also sought waiving of Rs 50,000 fine slapped on her by a Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice H K Sema, which found her guilty of contempt.

Zaheera's counsel D K Garg said she was a minor when she made the false statements before the court and that her health had deteriorated as a result of the stress she had to undergo during the past few years.

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The application is likely to be mentioned before the bench Tuesday.

On March 8, the apex court reprimanded Zaheera for her "flip-flops" during the Best Bakery trial, on the basis of the report of a high-powered inquiry committee, which had indicted her as a "self-condemned liar".

The court had said, "This is a classic example of a case where evidence were tampered with and witnesses won over."

The court had also directed the Income Tax authorities to attach Zaheera's assets and bank accounts for three months, besides initiating proceedings to ascertain her source of income since 2000.

On January 10, 2005, the court referred the matter for inquiry on being faced with Zaheera's "flip-flops", much to the embarrasment of her one time protectee and social activist Teesta Setalvad.

The committee, which submitted its report on August 29, 2005, had given a clean chit to Setalvad on charges of inducement levelled against her by Zaheera.