Teesta Setalvad and R.B. Sreekumar. Collage: The Wire

New Delhi: A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Saturday denied bail to activist Teesta Setalvad and former Gujarat police officer R.B. Sreekumar, who were arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for allegedly fabricating documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.

Additional principal judge D.D. Thakkar said that both the orders are rejected. “On perusing statement of witnesses, it appears that both these applicants and others were actively involved in the conspiracy against against the then C.M. and Ministers, police officers as well as Bureaucrat etc (sic),” the court order read.

Judge Thakkar also said that it appears that Zakia Jafri’s 2006 complaint to the SIT investigating the Gujarat riots cases was “inspired and instigated” by Setalvad, noting that Sreekumar and other accused are “shown as one of the prime witnesses of the complaint”.

“… considering the rival contention of both the sides as well as affidavit and documents filed by both the sides, this court do not find it to be fit to exercise discretion in favour of the applicants-accused,” the order reads.

Setalvad and Sreekumar were arrested by the Ahmedabad crime branch on June 25, on the basis of a first information report (FIR) that filed a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 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 Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the case has alleged that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a larger conspiracy carried out at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilise the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi.

This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here