Ahmedabad sessions court reserves order on Setalvad, Sreekumar bail pleas

Police opposed their bail pleas, claiming that Setalvad and Sreekumar were conspiring to 'destabilise' the BJP govt in Gujarat at that time

A city sessions court concluded on Thursday the arguments on the regular bail applications of Mumbai activist Teesta Setalvad and ex-DGP R B Sreekumar, and reserved its order. The two were in custody at Sabarmati Central Jail, in connection with an FIR registered against them at Ahmedabad crime branch for allegedly fabricating evidence, and tutoring witnesses to seek conviction in 2002 post Godhra riot cases.

Additional principal judge D D Thakkar reserved the order after concluding the arguments; he is likely to pronounce the verdict on Tuesday. The police, while opposing their bail pleas, claimed in an affidavit that Setalvad and Sreekumar, along with another co-accused ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, were part of a “larger conspiracy” to “destabilize” the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government of that time at the “behest” of senior Congress leader, the late Ahmed Patel.

The prosecution alleged that Setalvad received Rs 30 lakh from Patel on different occasions as part of the “conspiracy” to derail Modi’s government back then. These allegations were based on the statements of three witnesses, including Setalvad’s former employee Rais Khan Pathan. He had worked with Setalvad at her NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace (CJP).

Appearing for Sreekumar, advocate S M Vohra told the court that Pathan’s testimony couldn’t be relied upon as he was “a dismissed employee” and had cited names of deceased persons (such as Ahmed Patel and Vithalbhai Pandya) who couldn’t corroborate his claims.

The state also opposed the bail pleas on the ground that “both are influential people” who can tamper with the evidence if released on bail.