A Key witness in the 26/11 attack case apparently went missing on Friday, setting the Crime Branch on his trail, only to be found at night with an explanation that he had overslept at a friend’s home and missed his date with the special court.

Nooruddin Sheikh, a Goregaon resident who claims to be a childhood friend of accused Fahim Ansari, had deposed on Thursday that he had seen Ansari hand over some maps to co-accused Sabahuddin Ahmed in Nepal.

He failed to turn up for cross-examination on Friday morning, setting off allegations by the prosecution that it was a suspicious disappearance in light of the fact that the defence had been given Sheikh’s name and address only a day earlier.

Sheikh’s wife told the prosecution he had left home early on Friday morning and not returned since. He was eventually tracked down at 9.30 pm by one of three special teams set by the police. Crime Branch officials said the witness claimed to have gone to a friend’s house and had fallen asleep at the time of the trial, hence could not go to court.

His failure to turn up had worried the police and the prosecution. JCP (Crime) Rakesh Maria had said: “He is an important witness and his not attending the cross-examination would be prejudicial to the prosecution’s case.”

Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had added: “If the witness is not cross-examined by the defence, the evidence taken on record by the prosecution has no value. We had given the defence lawyers the name and address of the witness only yesterday. This is suspicious. I don’t know if he is missing or has been forced to go into hiding, or is being held against his will. He didn’t inform us. It’s a matter of investigation.”

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