The state government’s Special investigation team has claimed that activist Teesta Setalvad received Rs. 30 lakh from a political party for destabilizing elected government of Gujarat, after the 2002 communal riots. The SIT was challenging the bail application of Teesta Setalvad who was arrested recently.
Teesta was part of a larger conspiracy working against the government at the behest of Ahmed Patel, the late Congress leader and a close confidante of Congress High command for decades, it alleged. Political Advisor of the Congress president Ahmed Patel was in close contact with Teesta Setalvad and several meetings were arranged between the two, the SIT submitted saying that their claims are backed by the statements of two witnesses.
Teesta received Rs.5 lakhs in the first instance and Rs.25 lakhs two days later. The money given to Teesta Setalvad was not for any relief work, the SIT maintained. The meetings of Teesta Setalvad with R B Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt, the police officials who had locked horns with the government are also corroborated as part of a conspiracy by the government.
