JOIN USThe Ahmedabad Police's crime branch has registered an FIR against social activist Teesta Setalvad following a complaint by some victims of the Gulbarga society massacre case alleging fraud by her.
During the post-Godhra riots, 69 Muslims were killed in Gulbarga society in Ahmedabad, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.
Teesta had assisted Jafri’s widow Zakia in filing a complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 61 others for their alleged involvement in the riots.
However, an Ahmedabad court had recently accepted a closure report, submitted by a special investigation team to probe the case, which had given a clean chit to the chief minister and others.
Some riot victims of Gulbarga society had accused Teesta and her husband Javed Anand of collecting foreign donations for riot victims but not utilising them for the intended purpose about a year ago.
About 12 riot victims of Gulbarga had sent her a notice and also sent a complaint to the police commissioner, who had directed the crime branch to look into it.
In their notice, the residents had alleged that RTI queries had revealed Teesta had collected huge donations from national and international organisations in the name of providing financial assistance for reconstruction of houses or developing the Gulbarga society into a museum.
The complainants had further alleged that “despite collecting foreign donation of Rs 63 lakh in the account of CJP and Rs 88 lakh in the account of Sabrang Trust”, nothing has been passed on to the members of the society.
The surviving victims, in a separate letter to the city police commissioner, had also sought a ban on the NGO from organising its annual event on February 28 as a show of solidarity with the people who had lost their lives during the 2002 riots.
Following investigations into these allegations, the crime branch has registered an FIR against Teesta and her husband.