ATS DIG-led SIT to probe case against Setalvad for fabricating evidence

A Special Investigation Team SIT to be headed by Gujarat ATS DIG will probe the case against activist Teesta Setalvad and former IPS officers RB Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt who have been accused of abusing the process of law by fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in connection with the 2002 Gujarat communal riots a senior official said on SundayEarlier in the day the Ahmedabad crime branch had arrested Setalvad a day after she was detained in Mumbai and shifted to GujaratExGujarat DGP Sreekumar was arrested on Saturday while the process is on to get a transfer warrant for custody of Bhatt who is serving a life sentence in a custodial death case at a jail at Palanpur in connection with the FIR lodged against themThe SIT will be headed by Deputy Inspector General DIG of Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad ATS Deepan Bhadran and will have Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP of Ahmedabad Crime Branch and Superintendent of Police SP of Gujarat ATS as its two members the official saidThe investigation will be carried out by the Assistant Commissioner of Police ACP of the Ahmedabad Special Operations Group SOG Gujarat ATS DIG Bhadran told PTISetalvad and Sreekumar were arrested by the crime branch and a process has been initiated to bring Bhatt who is serving a life sentence in a custodial death case at a jail at Palanpur in the states Banaskantha district to Ahmedabad on a transfer warrant DCP Crime Chaitanya Mandlik had told reportersThe city crime branch registered an FIR against Setalvad Sreekumar and Bhatt on Saturday a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to the then chief minister Narendra Modi and others in 2002 postGodhra riots casesThe 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 riotsWhile dismissing the plea of Zakia Jafri wife of slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed during riots the apex court observed that At the end of the day it appears to us that a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officials of the State of Gujarat along with others was to create a sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledgeSetalvad Sreekumar and Bhatt were booked under sections 468 471 forgery 194 giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence 211 institute criminal proceedings to cause injury 218 public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture and 120 B criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal CodeThe complaint is mainly based on the documents of proceedings and other materials to make out a case of cognizable offenceIt drew on various submissions made before the Special Investigation Team SIT formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the 2002 Gujarat riots cases and the Justice NanavatiShah Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Gujarat government to probe these casesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever