2002 Gujarat riots: SIT files chargesheet against Teesta Setalvad, 2 others

Ahmedabad, Sep 22: A special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday submitted a charge sheet against activist Teesta Setalvad, retired Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.

The Ahmedabad crime branch had registered the case soon after the Supreme Court in June upheld the clean chit given to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in response to a petition filed by Zakia Jafri alleging larger conspiracy behind the 2002 violence.

Investigating Officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Special Operations Group B V Solanki told PTI that the charge sheet was filed in the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate M V Chauhan.

Former IPS officer-turned-lawyer Rahul Sharma has also been made a witness in the case, he added.

The accused have been charged under Sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture) of the IPC, among other provisions.

Setalvad, arrested in the last week of June, was released on interim bail following a September 2 order of the Supreme Court. Sreekumar remains lodged in the jail in the case. The third accused, Bhatt is in a jail in Palanpur where he is serving life sentence in a custodial death case.