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Gulbarg Funds Case: Teesta Setalvad, Guilty or Framed?  

Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand have been accused of embezzling Rs. 8 crore from riot victims. Guilty or Framed? 

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The Supreme Court has extended the stay on the Gujarat High Court’s order to arrest social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand till the 19th of February. The couple has been accused of misappropriating funds meant for the construction of a museum at Gulbarg Society.

Gulbarg Society was burnt down during the 2002 riots in Gujarat, leaving at least 31 people dead. In February 2013, Feroze Khan, a resident of Gulbarg and an eye-witness in the riot case sent a legal notice to Setalvad demanding the money collected for the museum. Setalvad alleged that the notice was forged. The matter is currently being probed by the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court.

In Jan 2014, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch filed an FIR against Setalvad, Anand and 3 others alleging that Rs. 8 crore had been embezzled by them from funds meant for the museum. The Ahmedabad Crime Branch says its FIR is a response to a fresh complaint filed by 12 families who were residents of Gulbarg Society in 2002. Yesterday, the High Court rejected Setalvad’s plea for anticipatory bail, forcing her lawyer, former Union Minister Kapil Sibal to seek a hearing from the Supreme Court.

“They cannot be armoured with full-fledged anticipatory bail when the applicant did not cooperate with the investigation,” said Ahmedabad High Court Justice J B Pardiwala, turning down the bail pleas of Setalwad and her husband.

Social activist and academic Madhu Kishwar spoke out against Setalvad.

The complaint came from members of the society. Teesta Setalvad cries wolf, blaming the BJP and Modi every time she is questioned. She has spent money on fashion garments and beauty treatments. We can see this on her credit card bills. She hasn’t even bothered to deny it,” said Madhu Kishwar.

But supporters of Setalvad and her husband insist the case is politically motivated.

The trust had decided to pay Teesta and Javed a nominal salary. In addition, they used a credit card for both personal and official purposes. Using some disgruntled elements from Gulbarg, the Investigating Officer (IO) is claiming that they embezzled funds.

-Rajan Prasad of SAHMAT to The Quint.

It may be worth noting that of the five people accused, only Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand’s bail plea was contested.

The Gujarat Government has not sought to block the anticipatory bail petitions of the other three accused in the FIR. Sympathisers of Setalvad have also questioned the timing of the case claiming it was brought on by her decision to appeal the ‘clean chit’ given to PM Narendra Modi on his involvement in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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Topics:  Teesta Setalvad 

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