Godhra riots: Gujarat police opposes Teesta Setalvad's discharge application

The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) Monday filed an affidavit opposing the discharge application of activist Teesta Setalvad in connection with the alleged fabrication of evidence and tutoring witnesses in 2002 communal rioting cases to seek conviction.

This is the same case in which Setalvad is facing arrest. Earlier on Saturday, the Gujarat high court had denied her regular application and refused to stay the order. Hours later, a special bench of the Supreme Court granted her relief by staying the high court order for a week. Apart from Setalvad, former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar and jailed ex IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt are also accused in this case.

"All the evidence on record collected during the investigation and produced along with the chargesheet is sufficient to frame charges against the accused. There is evidence that accused Teesta Setalvad has committed this offense...There is sufficient evidence to frame charges against the accused and reject the discharge application of accused No.-1 Teesta, daughter of Atul Motilal Setalvad, for the above mentioned reasons..." the affidavit has stated.

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Last week, Setalvad had filed an application in the sessions court seeking discharge from the trial following which the DCB filed its reply opposing the move. The DCB has claimed that Setalvad and others accused the chief minister, senior bureaucrats and political leaders for the riots which broke out on February 27, 2002 and afterwards.

The affidavit alleges that accused persons "won the trust and abused the trust of the witnesses and the victims" and filed false affidavits in English in their names to frame innocent people in riots related cases. The affidavit mentions affidavits of such witnesses and e-mail communication linking Setalvad and two other accused and leaders of a political party to the crime.

The affidavits mentions of witnesses including Qutbuddin Ansari, Yasmin Shaikh, Abdul Majid Shaikh, Rafiq Banu Saiyed, Rehana Yakubbhai, Madina Pathan, who are all victims and witnesses of rioting related cases, to have told the police that their testimonies had information which they never knew. It also claims Setalvad's former colleague Raeskhan Pathan as alleging that she collected crores of funds in the name of riot victims but barely shared with them.

"Considering the gravity of the crime and the evidence on record, it is not a case where the accused can be left without a trial. The case against the accused is more than prima facie evidence," the affidavit stated.

Setalvad and two other accused-Sreekumar and Bhatt- have been booked under sections 468, 471, 194, 211, 218 and 120b of IPC. The sections deal with forgery, fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence and government servant framing incorrect records. The court will hear the arguments on July 6.

Earlier last month, the trial court had rejected the discharge application of co-accused Sreekumar.