Debangana Ray
Published on June 26, 2022 at 16:51 IST
In relation to a fresh case of forgery, criminal conspiracy and insulting criminal proceedings to cause injury, social activist Teesta Setalvad was handed over to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad.
Setalvad was detained from Juhu House in Mumbai on June 25, 2022 after an FIR was registered against her at the Ahmedabad Crime branch based on a complaint lodged by crime branch inspector DB Barad.
A crime branch source said “After being brought here, Setalvad was handed over to the city crime branch on Sunday morning. She will soon be placed under arrest,”
After her detention on June 25, 2022, she had been taken to the Santacruz Police station in Mumbai for informing the local police about her detention. From here she was taken to Ahmedabad by road.
The action against Setalvad came after on June 24, 2022 dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation team (SIT) to former Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi and others in the 2002 post Godhra-riots cases.
Setalvad who is the secretary of NGO Citizens for justice and peace, was accused of fabricating facts and documents, tutor witnesses and abuse the process of law by fabricating false evidence to frame people.
This accusations were made on the basis of the submissions made before the SIT formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the 2002 Gujarat Riots cases and before the Justice Nanavati-Shah commission of inquiry.
The petition before Supreme court challenging the clean chit given to Narendra Modi was filed by Setalvad and her NGO along with Zakia Jafri.
The FIR registered Setalvad was detained on the basis of an FIR registered on Saturday which accused her and two IPS officers- RB Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt of forgery, criminal conspiracy, instituting criminal proceedings to cause injury, among others.
Former DGP Sreekumar was arrested, while Bhatt is currently lodged in a jail after being convicted to life imprisonment in a custodial death case. In another case, he has been charged for planting contraband to frame a lawyer.
After her detention, Setalvad claimed her arrest was illegal. The FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 468, 471 (forgery), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence), 211 (institute criminal proceedings to cause injury), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture), and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy).
In its judgement, the supreme court has observed, “At the end of the day, it appears to us that a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officials of the State of Gujarat along with others was to create sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledge.”
“The falsity of their claims had been fully exposed by the SIT after a thorough investigation…As a matter of fact, all those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceed in accordance with law,” it had said.