Order on bail pleas of Teesta, Sreekumar deferred by court till July 28
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Ahmedabad: A Gujarat court on Tuesday adjourned till Thursday the verdict on the bail pleas of activist Teesta Setalvad and former DGP RB Sreekumar in the case of falsely framing innocent people in connection with the 2002 communal riots.
Additional Principal Judge DD Thakkar's court was scheduled to announce the order on Tuesday but said it would be announced on Thursday as the order was not yet ready.
The court had set aside the order last week after hearing the arguments of lawyers appearing for Setalvad, Sreekumar and the prosecution.
Setalvad, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officers Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt were arrested last month by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch under Sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate the case of fabricating evidence had told the court that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a "larger conspiracy" to destabilize the then BJP government headed by chief minister Narendra Modi, at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
SIT alleged that Setalvad had received Rs 30 lakh after the post-Godhra riots in 2002 at Patel's behest.
The SIT had told the court that Sreekumar was a "disgruntled government officer" who "abused the process for damning the elected representatives, bureaucracy and police administration of the whole state of Gujarat for ulterior purposes".
Both Setalvad and Sreekumar have denied allegations made against them.
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea last month filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Her plea had alleged a "larger conspiracy" behind the post-Godhra riots.
On February 8, 2012, the SIT submitted a closure report, giving a clean chit to the current Prime Minister Modi and 63 others, including senior government officials, saying there was no prosecutable evidence against them.
On June 24 this year, the Supreme Court upheld the SIT's clean chit against Modi and 63 others.
(With PTI inputs)