Police wanted to arrest Teesta Setalwad but she got relief from Supreme Court

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat crime branch officials had planned to arrest social activists Teesta Setalwad and her husband Javed Anand after the high court rejected their pre-arrest bail plea, but could not find her until she obtained relief from the Supreme Court, police sources said here today.

A senior officer of the Gujarat crime branch confirmed that the police team had reached Setalwad's residence in Mumbai a couple of hours after the High Court verdict, but they failed to find the activists in their house.

In the meantime, Setalwad and her husband approached the Supreme Court and obtained a stay on their arrest.

The court has denied anticipatory bail to the husband-wife activist duo in the alleged Rs 1.51-crore Gulbarg Society funds embezzlement case.

Observing that activist Setalwad was not co-operating in the probe, the Court rejected her anticipatory bail plea in a case related to embezzlement of funds meant for a museum in Gulbarg Society, which was devastated in the 2002 riots.

"The applicants cannot be protected with full fledged anticipatory bail when they did not co-operate with the investigation," Justice J B Pardiwala had said, turning down their bail application.