Teesta in Supreme Court: How it unfolded

Teesta Setalvad got a breather from the Supreme Court today which prevented her arrested until February 19th. The situation is an extra ordinary one and needs an immediate intervention of the court, advocate for Teesta told the Supreme Court.

Taunting the Gujarat police, Teesta's advocate said that the "mighty," police of the state was hell bent upon arresting her. A Division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices A K Sikri and Arun Kumar sought additional documents pertaining to the case while adjourning the matter to February 19th.

Teesta's claim

Teesta who has claimed that she had done no wrong, told the Supreme Court that the entire case was a result of a political conspiracy. She further contended that the police were harassing her and there was no merit in the charges.

The entire FIR is questionable as it is mala fide in nature and was filed only with a political vendetta in order to harass her. She also said that her NGO, Citizen's for Peace was instrumental in bringing to the notice of everyone the Gujarat riots case.

She also quoted the Best Bakery case in which the Supreme Court had then called Narendra Modi as a modern day Niro.

What Gujarat High Court had said?

The High Court which rejected her anticipatory bail plea yesterday had strong words for her. While questioning the functioning of her NGO, the court had stated that the facts are shocking.

"How can one seek materialistic pleasure and happiness at the expense of poor and needy persons? How can one even use five paise which is meant for the poor and the needy," the Bench had also observed.

The facts of the case reflects a sorry state of affairs of NGOs and the donations are made with trust with the hope it
would reach the needy. However in this case in the name of poor lakhs of rupees had been embezzled, the Bench had also observed.

The Bench also stated that this was a fit case for custodial interrogation in the larger interest of public.

The case against Teesta

Former residents of the Gulbarg society had filed a case against Teesta and other alleging that they had embezzled funds to the tune of Rs 1.51 crore.

The funds were collected to set up a riots museum. However after the money was collected the idea of setting up of the museum was dropped the complainants had also alleged.