A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Saturday denied bail to activist Teesta Setalvad and former Director General of Police (DGP) R.B. Sreekumar in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
Both Setlvad and Sreekumar, accused of fabricating documents, were arrested by the Ahmedabad crime branch on the charge of conspiring to falsely implicate innocent persons in connection with the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Additional Principal Judge DD Thakkar was hearing the bail plea of Setalvad and Sreekumar. Earlier, the government had submitted an affidavit opposing their bail in court. The sessions court had heard the arguments of both parties and reserved judgment for July 21.
Setalvad and Sreekumar were arrested on June 25, a day after the Supreme Court had given clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots, dismissing a petition by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.
On June 24, the Supreme Court had observed that those responsible for keeping the pot boiling over the past 16 years need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with the law.
Setalvad, Sreekumar and the third co-accused former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was arrested earlier this month, were shown as witnesses in Jafri’s 2006 complaint.
The CBI had arrested them under Indian Penal Code Sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence).
In its affidavit, the SIT has alleged that they were part of a larger conspiracy carried out at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilize the then BJP government led by Narendra Modi in Gujarat.