Teesta Setalvad's regular bail is denied by Gujarat High Court for "surrender without delay"
Setalvad was told to report right away by the justice Nirzar Desai bench, which upheld the court's decision to deny her request for bail.
Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based activist, applied for regular bail on Saturday but was denied, and the Gujarat high court ordered her to appear immediately. The issue relates to reportedly her fabricating evidence in 2002 post-Godhra riot prosecutions.
Setalvad was told to report right away by the justice Nirzar Desai bench, which upheld the court's decision to deny her request for bail.
Mihir Thakore, a senior attorney, pleaded with the court to postpone the verdict's implementation for a period of 30 days.
Through temporary bail issued by the Supreme Court in September of last year, Setalvad was protected from arrest. She was consequently taken out of court custody in the current case.
Charges against Setalvad centre on his alleged attempts to implicate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others while spreading information about a bigger plot that led to the 2002 riots.
On June 15, the state's prosecution stressed that the allegations against Setalvad relate to the alleged fabrication of false evidence in their opposition to Setalvad's request for regular bail in front of the high court.
According to the prosecution, she received 30 lakh from late Congress leader Ahmed Patel in order to topple Gujarat's Narendra Modi-led government during the 2002 riots.
During the court hearing, the state government described Setalvad as a "tool" of a politician tasked with defaming Gujarat.
The Gujarat Police detained Setalvad and co-accused former IPS R B Sreekumar on June 25 of last year. Following the filing of a first information report (FIR) by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on an alleged conspiracy to falsely accuse innocent people in connection with the Gujarat riots of 2002, the arrest was made.
Setalvad was remanded in court prison on July 2 following a seven-day police remand. A day after the Supreme Court rejected Zakia Jafri's appeal challenging the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean bill of health for former Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and others relating the conspiracy accusations in the riots, her arrest occurred.
Setalvad's bail request had been rejected by public prosecutor Amin, who emphasised that she had colluded with two police officers, Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt, to spread a bigger conspiracy that aimed to topple the Gujarat government soon after the horrific Godhra train catastrophe in 2002.
The prosecutor said that Setalvad was also the victim of political scheming on the part of a member of a specific political party.
The SIT claims to have found information that suggests Setalvad received financial support from a prominent member of a rival political party. before July of last year, the government denied her request for bail before sessions court on a similar grounds.
The prosecutor highlighted witness testimony, including that of Rais Khan, a former close assistant of Setalvad who later had a falling out with her in 2008. In his account, Khan revealed a meeting that took place between Setalvad and Congressman Patel at Ahmedabad's circuit house.
Patel allegedly gave Setalvad instructions to make sure that some people were punished and imprisoned at the conference.
Khan's statement, which detailed the participation of other IPS officials in their operations, was read out by the prosecutor. The chargesheet's claim that Setalvad had collected 30 lakh from the Congress leader was further corroborated by the prosecutor.
He cited recorded comments from Khan and Narendra Brahmbhatt, who said they paid Setalvad in accordance with Patel's orders. Furthermore, it was asserted that Setalvad's actions were intended to damage PM Modi's reputation and topple the current administration.
When Vitthalbhai Pandya, the father of former home minister Haren Pandya, refused to make accusations against those unrelated to the riots, the prosecution claimed that Setalvad turned her attention to Zakia Jafri.
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