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Teesta now accused of buying support

Last Updated 28 July 2015, 19:47 IST
The Ahmedabad crime branch officials on Tuesday said that they have material evidence which would help them nail activist Teesta Setalvad in the case Gulbarg Society case.

Setalvad is accused of collecting Rs 1.51 crore through her two NGOs — Sabrang Trust and Citizen for Justice & Peace (CJP) — from domestic and international donors with a promise to convert riot-hit Gulbarg into a museum. However, it is alleged, that she used the money for her personal expenses.

The Ahmedabad Police had registered an FIR in 2014, after a complaint filed by former residents of Gulbarg Society a year-and-a-half ago in 2013. They apparently claimed that money collected in their name had not reached them. Setalvad on her part stated that only Rs 4.6 lakh could be raised for the project, forcing her to abandon the project.  As for the trust funds, she claimed that they had been audited and submitted before the concerned authorities.

The Crime Branch officials now said that Teesta’s Sabrang Trust had paid for air tickets, food bills, local taxi and other expenses of John Dayal, Harsh Mander and Dr Amarjeet Singh Narang and debited these expenses to Secular Education Account of Sabrang Trust.

The propping up of these names by the Crime Branch become interesting as they have been supporters of Teesta’s work for long. John Dayal, secretary-general of the All India Christian Council and Harsh Mander, a former IAS officer and director, Centre for Equity Studies had recently alleged that Teesta was being hounded by Gujarat government for her support to the riot victims.“The payment ledger of Sabrang Trust indicates an amount of Rs 11,579 being paid to Setalvad towards reimbursement of air tickets booked for Dayal from Delhi to Mumbai.

They also received payment for the airport transfers and out of the pocket expenses. And we are just talking about only few vouchers yet,” they said, adding that these payments were indicative that Dayal and Mander were paid supporters of Setalvad as they were approved by Setalvad’s husband Javed Anand.

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(Published 28 July 2015, 19:47 IST)

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