HC grants ex-DGP RB Sreekumar interim bail in 2002 Gujarat riots case

The Gujarat High Court, on Wednesday, granted interim bail to former Director General of Police (DGP) R B Sreekumar till November 15, and allowed him to file a fresh application for regular bail before the trial court.

The former Indian Police Services (IPS) officer from the Gujarat cadre was lodged at Sabarmati Central Jail following his arrest on June 25 in the case of alleged fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses in 2002 following the Godhra riots. He was arrested along with Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad.

The bench of justice Ilesh Vora granted interim relief to the 75-year-old former IPS officer, on the grounds of change of circumstances during pendency of his bail plea.

The former IPS officer had moved the high court for regular bail after a sessions court’s refusal. During the pendency, the special investigation team (SIT) filed the chargesheet last week.

Sreekumar’s lawyer Yogesh Ravani informed the court that he would prefer a fresh bail, before the trial court with an interim relief. Subsequently, the court ordered release of the former DGP until November 15 for filing fresh plea for bail before the trial court.

On the other hand, the court also adjourned to November 15 the hearing of Setalvad’s bail application. She was granted interim bail by an order of the Supreme Court on September 2.

The SIT, in its charge sheet last week, alleged that Setalvad, Sreekumar and another co-accused former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt “conspired to book the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, top bureaucrats and senior leaders of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2002 post-Godhra riot related offences punishable by death or life imprisonment till death.”

The charge sheet claimed that “communal riots broke out after the burning of a railway coach at Godhra station on February 27, 2002. After that, accused number 1 (Setalvad) and others got in touch with late Ahmed Patel, the office bearer of political party Indian National Congress and also came in contact with other co-accused, held meetings at different places as part of criminal conspiracy.”