AHMEDABAD: Mumbai-based social activist Teesta Setalvad was arrested on Sunday morning in connection with an FIR filed by Ahmedabad crime branch which names Setalvad along with two ex-IPS officers R B Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt for abusing the process of law by conspiring to fabricate the evidence in an attempt to frame innocent people for an offence punishable with capital punishment in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Setalvad and Sreekumar were later produced before a metropolitan magistrate in an urgent hearing, which granted the city crime branch their custody till 2.30 pm on July 2.
Setalvad was arrested after she was brought to Ahmedabad following her detention from Mumbai via road early on Sunday morning. Sreekumar was arrested on Saturday. Top sources in Gujarat police said that the third accused dismissed IPS officer Bhatt, who is lodged in a Palanpur jail in a drug peddling case, is likely to be arrested in the next three to four days through a transfer warrant.
Meanwhile, the state home department on Sunday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case against Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt.
"The SIT will be headed by deputy inspector general (DIG) of Gujarat Anti Terrorists Squad (ATS) Deepan Bhadran and will have deputy commissioner of police (DCP) of Ahmedabad Crime Branch Chaitanya Mandalik, and superintendent of police (SP) of Gujarat ATS Sunil Joshi as its two members," said a home department officer.
The investigation will be carried out by the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of the Ahmedabad Special Operations Group (SOG) B C Solanki, said the officer.
The city crime branch registered an FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar, and Bhatt on Saturday. A day earlier, the Supreme Supreme Court had dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to the then chief minister Narendra Modi and others in 2002 post-Godhra riots cases.
The trio has been accused of abusing the process of law by conspiring to fabricate the evidence in an attempt to frame innocent people for an offence punishable with capital punishment in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, according to the FIR filed by the city crime branch.
Following arrests of Setalvad and Sreekumar, the city crime branch, through the public prosecutor, sought a remand of 14 days alleging that the duo hatched a larger conspiracy with some other unknown persons, NGOs and entities to implicate the innocent persons in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The state agency submitted that the accused persons- Setalvad and Sreekumar were not cooperating in the probe. The crime branch also stated that possibility of Sreekumar colluding with Setalvad so as to interfere in judicial process in communal riot cases in other parts of the country cannot be ruled out and needs to be investigated.
Defence advocates argued that Setalvad and Sreekumar were not hardened criminals and they would cooperate and come for their deposition as and when they are required.
After hearing the submissions, metropolitan magistrate sent the two to remand till July 2 at 2.30pm.
Before being produced to the court, Setalvad said before reporters, "I am not a criminal."' She later alleged before the court that she was being manhandled and suffered bruises on her hands for which she underwent medical examination at VS hospital in Ellisbridge.
