Ahmedabad (Aryavarth): A special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against activist Teesta Setalvad, retired Director General of Police RB Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt in a case of alleged “fabrication of evidence” in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
SIT has filed a 100-page charge sheet in court. The investigation agency has also produced documents mentioning witnesses in the charge sheet. Earlieron September 2, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Teesta in a case in which she was arrested for allegedly fabricating documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Setalvad and former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar were arrested by the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch on June 25 based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered against them under sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences) of the Indian Penal Code.
The SIT formed to probe the case has alleged that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a larger conspiracy carried out at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilise the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi. He was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time. Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt is also an accused in the case.
The FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar, and Bhatt was registered after the Supreme Court had on June 24 dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others in 2002 Gujarat riots.
Ehsan Jafri was among 69 people killed during the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad violence on February 28, 2002. Zakia Jafri has challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 people, including Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat Chief Minister during the riots in the State.
She had alleged a “larger conspiracy” behind the post-Godhra incident riots. However, the SIT in the apex court had opposed the plea of Jafri, saying there was a sinister plot behind the complaint to probe the “larger conspiracy” behind the 2002 Gujarat riots and the original complaint by Jafri was directed by Teesta Setalvad, who levelled allegations to keep the pot boiling.
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