The Gujarat government opposed the bail application of ” headstrong” Teesta Setalvad in an Ahmedabad court saying that the “highly influential” activist was part of a larger conspiracy to destabilise the elected government. Special Public prosecutor Mitesh Amin submitted before the court of sessions judge DD Thakkar that there are apprehensions that she will “certainly” interfere in the progress of the investigation.
Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested Teesta Setalvad last month on the charges of fabricating evidence to frame innocent persons in the 2002 riots cases. Former DGP RB Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt also were arrested along with Ms Setalvad. The trio is booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 468 (forgery) and 194 among others.
Claiming Teesta to be part of a ” larger conspiracy” to “politicise” and “ sensationalise the 2002 Gujarat riot for ulterior design” Mitesh Amin said that Teesta Setalvad was using Zakia Jafri, as a “tool” to frame the then-chief Minister Narendra Modi and others as accused in the riots cases. Zakia Jafri is the wife of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed by the mob during the 2002 riots along with 68 others at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad.
The prosecution relied on the submissions made by the SC-constituted SIT, which probed the 2002 Gujarat riots and three witness statements recorded before the magistrate. The prosecutor told the court that Teesta Setalvad used the funds received by her and meant to be distributed among the victims of the 2002 riots, to destabilise the then-BJP government.
Teesta Setalvad and RB Sreekumar have already refuted all the charges levelled against them and claimed there was no merit in them.
