New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the arrest of social activist Teesta Setalvad till February 19 in the Gulbarg Society fund embezzlement case.
The allegations against Setalvad are grave, tha apex court said, warning her counsel against bringing politics into it. The Supreme Court asked the Gujarat government lawyer to produce some documents on that date pertaining to this case.
On Thursday, the Gujarat High Court rejected their anticipatory bail petitions as they faced imminent arrest.
The Gujarat Police registered a criminal case against Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, former MP Ehsan Jafri’s son Tanvir and two office-bearers of Gulbarg Society, Salimbhai Sandhi and Firoz Gulzar for embezzlement of Rs 1.51 crore.
Setalvad said that the charges against her were malicious and baseless. Noting that it was a case of a “political vendetta” by the perpetrators of the riots, she said, “Attempts are being made constantly by the communal political outfits and the (Gujarat) state machinery to curtail the movement and freedom of the petitioners and also to arrest their activities, so as to cynically reverse the successes of the difficult struggle for reparation and justice.”
