Gujarat Home Department constituted a sit Setalvad, Sreekumar and former IPS Sanjiv Bhatt to investigate the case. “The SIT will be headed by Gujarat ATS DIG Deepan Bhadran and will have Ahmedabad Crime Branch DCP Chaitanya Mandalik and ATS SP Sunil Joshi as its members,” a Home Department official said. The investigation will be conducted by Ahmedabad Special Operations Group ACP BC Solanki.
A day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in the 2002 Godhra riots, the Crime Branch registered an FIR on Saturday.
Following the arrest of Setalvad and Sreekumar, the crime branch alleged that the duo had hatched a larger conspiracy with unknown persons, NGOs and entities to implicate innocent persons in the riots case.
The state agency said both the accused were not cooperating in the investigation. It said the possibility of Sreekumar colluding with Setalvad to interfere in the judicial process of riot cases in other parts of the country cannot be ruled out and needs to be probed.
Teesta Setalvad: ‘Attack on Me’
The defense counsel argued that Setalvad and Sreekumar were not hard-line offenders and they would cooperate and come forward for their testimony if required.
“I am not a criminal,” Setalvad told reporters before appearing in court. She alleged in court that she was being assaulted and had bruises on her hands, for which she underwent a medical examination at VS Hospital in Ellisbridge.
Glad to know RB Sreekumar has been arrested: Former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayan
watch Ahmedabad: Gujarat ATS produced Teesta Setalvad in Metropolitan Magistrate’s court