The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing a case against former Director General of Police (DGP) R.B. Sreekumar and activist Teesta Setalvad, has summoned former IPS officer Rahul Sharma also.
The Assistant Police Commissioner B.L. Solanki issued the Summons which reads, “We are investigating the case registered with the Detection Crime Branch under the IPC section for forgery and conspiracy. In this regard we need to record your statement, you are requested to appear before the undersigned officer on August 27 at 11 a.m.”
Ahmedabad Detection Crime Branch Police Inspector D.B. Barad registered the case against Sreekumar, Setalvad and Sharma for the offence under the Indian Penal Code for Forgery with the intention of cheating, fraudulently or dishonestly used as genuine documents, giving fabricating, false evidence with intent to procure conviction of a capital offence, falsely charging any person with having committed an offence, and public servant framing incorrect records.
Rahul Sharma is a former DIG and then DCP of Ahmedabad. Under Article 218, a government office can be investigated in the matter of saving others by making false records. Rahul Sharma faces allegations to have misplaced call data records (CDs) handed over to him while he was posted with the Ahmedabad Police control room as the Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Teesta Setalvad was arrested by Ahmedabad Crime Branch on June 25 in a case related to her NGO. Former IPS officer RB Sreekumar is also in jail in this case. Teesta Setalvad was arrested on the charges of forging documents to implicate high-ranking officials, including the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by Gujarat police in its affidavit, has alleged that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a larger conspiracy at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilize the then Bharatiya Janata Party government. It has been alleged that Rs 30 lakh was paid to Setalvad at Patel’s behest immediately after the 2002 Godhra train burning incident. Another former police officer Sanjeev Bhatt was also accused in this case. He is already in jail in the custodial death case.
The FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt was registered a day after the Supreme Court dismissed Zakia Jafri’s plea challenging the Gujarat High Court order. The Supreme Court had dismissed the petition seeking an inquiry into the alleged role of Narendra Modi in the Gujarat riots. Zakia Jafri is the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed during the violence. The Supreme Court had said that the co-petitioner in the case, Setalvad, has exploited Zakia Jafri.
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