Gujarat high court's bail to Teesta Setalvad, husband Javed Anand OK but they must join probe: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Gujarat high court’s 2019 order granting anticipatory bail to activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand in a case of alleged misappropriation of funds, but directed the couple to cooperate in the probe being conducted by the Gujarat Police.
Noting that more than four years have passed since the HC passed the order, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prashant Kumar Mishra said there is no need now to interfere with the order as significant time has passed and chargesheet has not been filed.During the hearing, additional solicitor general SV Raju said the duo was not cooperating with the police investigation.
A criminal case was registered against the couple in connection with alleged misappropriation of funds collected for building a ‘Museum of Resistance’ at the Gulbarg Housing Society in Ahmedabad, where over 60 persons were killed during the communal riots of 2002. In July this year, the SC had granted regular bail to Setalvad in connection with another case relating to alleged fabrication of documents to frame high-ranking officials, including then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots cases in the state.
Setalvad, who has been on interim bail since September last year, was asked by the Gujarat HC to “surrender immediately” after it rejected her bail plea on July 1. However, she was granted interim protection against arrest by the apex court in a special sitting convened in late night on the same day. The Ahmedabad police’s detection of crime branch (DCB) had accused her for conspiring to falsely implicate innocent individuals in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.