Gujarat High Court rejects Teesta Setalvad's anticipatory bail plea in riot fund embezzlement case

NEW DELHI: The Gujarat high court on Thursday rejected social activist Teesta Setalvad's anticipatory bail plea in a criminal case of misappropriation of trust funds collected on behalf of riot victims.
The case was filed against her in Gujarat.

Following the bail rejection, Setalvad, including her husband Javed Anand, former MP Ehsan Jafri's son Tanvir and two office bearers of the Gulberg society - Salimbhai Sandhi and Firoz Gulzar may face arrest.
The Ahmedabad crime branch had already started searching for her. They have contacted Mumbai crime branch to locate her.

Teesta was not at her Mumbai residence.
In January last year, the city crime branch had registered an FIR against Setalvad and others for allegedly usurping Rs 1.51 crore collected by them in form of donations for turning the colony in Chamanpura into a riots museum.

Some former residents of the society alleged that Setalvad and her NGOs restrained them from disposing of their properties after the riots by promising them the NGOs would purchase them and turn them into a riot memorial.

However, the properties were never purchased on the ground that there was not enough fund. Later, the NGOs and the office bearers of the society told them that they could sell their houses. They have alleged that Setalvad and her NGOs gathered money from across the world by showing their condition and upon promise that the funds were meant for their upliftment.

(With inputs from TNN)