Gujarat: SIT to probe conspiracy allegations against Teesta, two others
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) will investigate the allegations of forgery and conspiracy against former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar, former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, and activist Teesta Setalvad. They have been accused of fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. Meanwhile, an Ahmedabad court on Sunday sent Sreekumar and Setalvad to five days of police custody.
Setalvad was detained in Mumbai and shifted to Gujarat on Saturday and was subsequently arrested on Sunday. Sreekumar was arrested on Saturday, while the process is on to get a transfer warrant for custody of Bhatt, who is serving a life term at a Palanpur jail in a custodial death case. The prosecution had sought a 14-day remand of Setalvad and Sreekumar.
Before Setalvad and Sreekumar were produced before the court, Ahmedabad DCP (crime) Chaitanya Mandalik said the police would investigate the conspiracy angle and also check their bank transactions. The police would also probe if anyone was instigating them. Notably, these come days after the clean chit to the then CM Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The three were booked under IPC Sections 468, 471 (forgery), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offense), 211 (institute criminal proceedings to cause injury), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture), and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy). Meanwhile, Setalvad said she is "not a criminal."
On Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to Modi calling it "devoid of merits." The appeal was filed by Zakia Jafri, the wife of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the violence at Ahmedabad's Gulberg Society in 2002. Jafri had challenged the 2017 Gujarat High Court order rejecting her plea against the SIT.
Setalvad and her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace were co-petitioners with Jafri in the Supreme Court against the SIT decision. Sreekumar, who was briefly in charge of the State Intelligence Bureau during the violence, had accused the Gujarat administration of not letting the police do their duties. In an affidavit in the SC, Bhatt had named Modi for his role in the riots.
