Click to play videoMumbai: Key prosecution witness in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case Nuruddin Shaikh went missing on his way to court on Friday.
Shaikh was finally traced to his friend's house by Mumbai Crime Branch officers and would be brought before the court on Monday for cross-examination.
He had deposed against the possible Indian link in 26/11of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed. He had deposed before the court on Thursday but never turned up on Friday.
"We are told that he had left for the court early morning. But he has not come to the court. Crime branch has taken a note of this and is investigating the matter," public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said
Shaikh is reportedly Ansari's childhood friend and a driver by profession. He had told the court on Thursday that he was present when Fahim met Sabauddin Ahmed in Kathmandu in 2008.
He claimed that Fahim handed over some maps of Mumbai to Sabahuddin.
After Shaikh went missing three teams of Mumbai Crime Branch fanned out in the city in search of him.
It was imperative that the police trace Shaikh to prove the possible Indian connection of 26/11 because if the police failed to trace the eyewitness then his entire testimony would have been disregarded by the court lending a major blow to the prosecution.
The court would also have had to set up another enquiry.
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