Opposing the bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad and former IPS officer R.B. Sreekumar in forgery and fabrication of evidence related to the 2002 riots cases, the Special Public Prosecutor on Wednesday told the court that Ms. Setalvad had “instigated” Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, to file a complaint against then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others.
Special Public Prosecutor Mitesh Amin, appearing for the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Gujarat Police to probe Ms. Setalvad and other accused Mr. Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt, reiterated the SIT claim that Teesta was part of the “larger conspiracy” to destabilise the State government using funds collected in the name of victims.
‘Received funds for victims’
During the arguments on the bail plea on Wednesday, Mr. Amin told the court that she received funds meant to be distributed among the victims of the 2002 riots, but the money never reached the intended beneficiaries.
He also claimed the money collected by her NGO was rather used to destabilise the then BJP government and show it engineered and sponsored the riots, which were triggered after a mob torched a coach of the Sabarmati Express near the Godhra station on February 27, 2002, leading to the death of 59 passengers returning from Ayodhya.
The court will continue to hear the arguments on the bail plea on Thursday.
