Gujarat riots: SIT reveals Teesta, Sreekumar, Sanjeev Bhatt received money from Ahmed Patel to frame Narendra Modi
16 July, 2022 | Pravina Srivastava
According to a SIT report, social activist Teesta Setalvad, former state director general of police (DGP), RB Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt accepted Rs 30 lakhs from Ahmed Patel
According to a Special Investigating Team (SIT) report, social activist Teesta Setalvad, former state director general of police (DGP), RB Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt accepted Rs 30 lakhs from Ahmed Patel, the political adviser of the then-Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to allegedly frame then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and topple his administration after the 2002 Gujarat riots.
SIT was established to look into allegations of criminal conspiracy and forgery against Setalvad and R B Sreekumar.
Teesta Sreekumar’s bail request was challenged in court by SIT’s ACP BC Solanki’s Special Public Prosecutors Mitesh Amin and Amit Patel, who claimed that the accused had joined a bigger conspiracy with the aim of getting unlawful money and other advantages from Congress.
Notably, on July 2, an Ahmedabad metropolitan court sentenced Setalvad and Sreekumar to 14 days of judicial detention. The Crime Branch of the Ahmedabad Police detained former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Tuesday in connection with Gujarat riots case for embezzling money and falsifying papers.
After the rioting that followed the Godhra event, the SIT brought significant charges against Teesta Setalvad, RB Sreekumar, and Sanjeev Bhatt for allegedly defaming Gujarat and its then-chief minister Narendra Modi in petitions to different commissions and the Supreme Court.
According to the SIT affidavit, the accused met with Patel multiple times and were given Rs 5 lakhs initially and Rs 25 lakhs after two days. In 2020, Ahmed Patel died away.
Supreme Court dismissed Zakia Jafri’s appeal last month, which questioned the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) exoneration of then-Chief Minister Narendra Modi and numerous others in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Zakia Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.
Earlier on February 28, 2002, Ehsan Jafri was one of 69 individuals who died as a result of violence at the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad. The SIT’s clean bill of health was contested by 64 persons, including his widow Zakia Jafri and Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister at the time.
Aboard February 27, 2002, at Gujarat’s Godhra Railway Station, 58 pilgrims were burned alive on the Sabarmati Express train, sparking rioting that left more than 1,000 people dead.