The Gujarat police told the Supreme Court that it has proof that social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand had diverted funds received for their NGO, which works for the welfare of 2002 riot victims, for personal use. Out of Rs. 9.75 crore received in donations, they siphoned off Rs. 3.85 crore, the police said.
The claim was made by the Gujarat police in the Supreme Court.
In an 83 page affidavit, the police have said that they had sought documents relating to the Centre for Justice Trust and Sabrang, but the couple were non-cooperative.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Rahul B Patel in the affidavit gave the details of non-cooperation by Setalvad, her husband and their trusts in furnishing documents required to probe into the complaints made by riots victims at Gulbarg Society that the couple did not deliver as per promise once the donations inflated. Notably, the Gulbarg Society had witnessed one of the worst carnage during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
After looking into bank accounts of the couple and their two trusts from 2007 till 2014, the Gujarat Police informed the SC that Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace received total foreign and domestic donations of Rs. 9.75 crore during this period.
It also says that the activists did not inform the police that they had opened two more accounts belonging to Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Sabrang Trust. “As soon as these three accounts were seized on January 23, 2014, the couple immediately transferred Rs. 24.5 lakh and Rs. 11.5 lakh from the other two accounts of Sabrang Trust, unknown to the investigation authority, by way of demand drafts on a single day,” the affidavit said.
The police rejects claim made by Setalvad and Anand that most of the riot-related cases were fought free of cost by top lawyers. They said that the couple had paid over Rs 71.40 lakh to the lawyers.
The affidavit said that Setalvad and Anand both “calculatingly misappropriated trusts huge funds and pocketed in their personal account” and has sought their custodial interrogation of the couple.
