Police formed a special investigation team to collect documents they filed in 2002 Gujarat riot cases. A day after the arrest of former police officer RB Sreekumar and activist Teesta Setalvad for alleged forgery related to the cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots, Gujarat Police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Sunday to investigate their role in the case. to investigate. The SIT is led by Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Deputy Inspector General Deepan Bhadran. At the same time, the ATS Superintendent of Police Sunil Joshi and Deputy Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad Crime Department Chaitanya Mandlik are its members.
Police will collect the documents submitted by the three accused – Ms. Setalvad, Mr. Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt – concerning the cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots. “The investigation is ongoing, and we are obtaining documents submitted by the accused to the Commission of Inquiry, SIT formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the cases of Gujarat riots in 2002 and various courts,” said Mr. Mandlik. He added that the affidavits and other documents were the main basis for the FIR filed against the accused.
The researchers do not rule out the possibility that other people are involved in creating false documents, which they use in legal processes to implicate people in serious crimes such as municipal riots. “The FIR filed by the DCB is based on the Supreme Court’s comments in its judgment, which stated, ‘In fact, all those involved in such abuse of process should be in the dock and go through with law,’ Mr. Mandlik said.
‘Greater conspiracy’
Ms. Setalvad and her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace co-sponsored Zakia Jafri’s petition against then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in the Supreme Court alleging “greater conspiracy” during the municipal riots in 2002 that killed more than 1,000 people across the state. The husband of Mrs. Zakia Jafri and former Congresswoman Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gulberg Society massacre riots, which left 70 people dead.
Mr. Mandlik said Mr. Sreekumar and Ms. Setalvad did not “cooperate” with the police after their arrest. The FIR submitted by the police inspector of the DCB invoked articles 468, 471 (forgery), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with the intent to sentence the death penalty), 211 (initiating criminal proceedings to inflict injury bring), 218 (public servant preparing an incorrect record or writing with the intent of saving a person from punishment or property from confiscation), and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. The police have also begun to obtain a custody transfer warrant for Mr. Bhatt in connection with the FIR. On Sunday, police brought Mr. Sreekumar and Ms. Setalvad before a court in Ahmedabad, which has granted them pre-trial detention until July 1. Rat Yatra.
In the FIR, the police stated that the accused “abused due process,” Even the Supreme Court acknowledged that fact in its June 24 judgment. About the claim of Mrs. Setalvad that she was being defrauded and her fears of life threat, the Crime Branch DCP said, “the trial was being followed” and added that she was free to file a complaint with the court about her grievances. After arresting her on Sunday, the police took her for a medical examination.
