Mumbai activist Teesta Setalvad, ex DGP RB Sreekumar sent to police custody till July 2

Earlier in the day, the Ahmedabad crime branch had arrested Setalvad, a day after she was detained in Mumbai and shifted to Gujarat

A metropolitan magisterial court on Sunday remanded Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad and retired Gujarat cadre IPS officer R B Sreekumar to police custody till July 2 in connection with the criminal case of alleged fabrication of evidence and tutoring witnesses of 2002 post Godhra riots to frame innocent people.

The metropolitan magistrate after hearing both the sides sent Sreekumar and Setalvad to police custody till July 1 for investigation. Setalvad's lawyers opposed the remand while arguing that there was no need for custodial interrogation as the entire case is based on documentary evidence which the accused don't possess. In the court, Setalvad accused the police of mishandling her and detaining her without warrant.

Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on Saturday arrested Sreekumar, hours after an FIR was registered while a team of Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) brought Setalvad by road last night. Setalvad was formally arrested on Sunday morning. Both were produced before the magisterial court where the investigators sought 14 days remand.

On Saturday, DCB police inspector DB Barad registered an FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar and ex IPS officer Bhatt has been registered 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 FIR was registered on behalf of the state government on the basis of the Supreme Court ruling on Zakia Jafri's petition. While rejecting her plea, the top court in a strongly worded order said those who had "kept the pot boiling" with an "ulterior motive" for the past 16 years should be in the dock and be "proceeded with in accordance with the law".

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The DCB has accused Setalvad for tutoring Zakia Jafri who filed a petition against then chief minister Narendra Modi and over 60 other state functionaries for allegedly orchestrating the riots. Modi and all others got clean chit. Besides, she has been accused of "fabrication of documents, influencing and tutoring the witnesses and making them depose on pre-typed affidavits."

Setalvad was instrumental in fighting legal cases for riot survivors and assisted them through her NGO-Citizen for Justice and Peace. Later, she was accused by some of those survivors of siphoning off donations worth in crores she had collected in the name of building a museum at Gulberg Society.

In the remand application, DCB has cited a court order mentioning her former colleague at CJP, Rais Khan Pathan, alleging that he used to get signed affidavits of witnesses of 2002 riots on his personal email ID, which were filed in Supreme Court. And, there were over a hundred such affidavits. The DCB has said that accused is required for custodial interrogation. When contacted, Pathan, who parted ways with Setalvad and leveled various allegations against the Mumbai-based activist, told DH, "Crime Branch officials have asked me to record my statement, which I am going to do soon to get the truth out."

74 years old Sreekumar, who is also facing a criminal case for allegedly conspiring to frame former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan in a spying case, is also accused of creating fabricated evidence and filing nine affidavits based on information he was privy to. These affidavits were submitted before Nanavati Commission, which probed the riots and found no evidence to prosecute anyone.

Sreekumar had openly criticised Modi for mishandling the 2002 riots and had alleged that the state government had prevented the police from carrying out their duties during the communal riots. He had a run-in with the state government and was denied promotion during his service and it was only after a court case that he was promoted to DGP rank post superannuation.

Similarly, Bhatt is accused of falsely implicating several persons based on his false testimony before Nanavati commission, among others. The FIR alleges Bhatt of colluding with NGOs, political leaders to implicate innocent persons. Bhatt was one of the key witnesses in Zakia Jafir's allegation that the then chief minister but the SIT found his statements unreliable. He had claimed that he was part of the meeting held in Gandhinagar presided over by then CM Modi who allegedly had said, "to let Hindus vent their anger." SIT found it not reliable as Bhatt too junior an office to have attended this high profile meeting.

Seeking 14 days remand, the application stated, "there are serious allegations against the accused persons of criminal conspiracy from 2002 to till date for fabricating evidence, forging records, filing false affidavits to seek capital punishment against innocent people and malicious intent for sensetional revelation."

State police forms SIT

Meanwhile, the Gujarat police formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case against Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt and others. The team will be headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), ATS, Deepan Bhadran while Superintendent of Police, ATS, Sunil Joshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCB, Chaitanya Mandalik will be part of the probe.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), BC Solanki, will be the investigation officer who will be assisted by DySPs P G Vaghela and A D Parmar and a woman police inspector. Interestingly, Solanki and Parmar are part of the Supreme Court appointed-SIT which probed the eight major riots cases along with the complaint of Zakia Jafri. Confirming the formation of the new team, Director General of Police, Ashish Bhatia told DH, "The team has been set up to investigate the case properly."