A special investigation team (SIT) filed a charge sheet against activist Teesta Setalvad, retired Director General of Police RB Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. The charge sheet, which runs into 6,300 pages, cites 90 witnesses, including former IPS officer-turned-lawyer Rahul Sharma and Congress's Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil, PTI reported.
The charge sheet was filed in the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate in Ahmedabad, said Investigating Officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police BV Solanki.
The three accused have been charged under sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture) of the IPC, among other provisions.
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In the charge sheet, the SIT accused Setalvad and others of instituting false and malicious criminal proceedings against innocent people, including then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and other leaders of the ruling BJP.
The charge sheet mentioned that Setalvad and the two accused met late Congress leader Ahmed Patel and alleged that they conspired to create fabricated evidence against Modi and BJP leaders.
"Accused number one (Setalvad) tried to create false cases against then chief minister (Modi), ministers and senior BJP leaders and conspired to fabricate evidence against them in these cases to establish their involvement in the February 28, 2002 and other riots cases in which a large number of people were killed and in which the punishment is death sentence," it said.
Setalvad also received Rs 30 lakh at Ahmed Patel's behest in 2002, the charge sheet said.
It further said that as secretary of the NGO 'Citizens for Justice and Peace', Setalvad worked with leaders of Congress to spread misunderstanding among people in relief camps that Gujarat was unsafe and they will not get justice in the state.
In the charge sheet, the SIT claimed Sreekumar submitted fabricated affidavits before the Justice Nanavati and Mehta Commission of Inquiry formed to look into the 2002 riots cases and also threatened a witness.
On Bhatt, the SIT said he falsely claimed to be present at the meeting at the chief minister's bungalow on February 28, 2002, and submitted a fabricated affidavit before the commission and the Supreme Court.
Setalvad was released on interim bail following a September 2 order of the Supreme Court. The SC asked Setalvad to surrender her passport with the trial court till the time the Gujarat High Court decides her regular bail petition. Setalvad was arrested on June 25.
Sreekumar remains lodged in the jail in the case. The third accused, Bhatt is in a jail in Palanpur where he is serving life sentence in a custodial death case.
(With inputs from PTI)