Setalvad in dock for 'cooking up killings'

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi baiters among NGOs on Monday suffered a major setback when a Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) charged a leading activist, Teesta Setalvad, with adding morbidity into the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat by ���cooking up macabre tales of killings���.

SIT headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan said ���many incidents were cooked up, false witnesses were tutored to give evidence about imaginary incidents, and false charges levelled against the then Ahmedabad police chief P C Pandey���.

Sit report, which was submitted before a bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, said there was no truth in some of the major allegations levelled by NGOs. According to the report, the untruths included:
A pregnant Muslim woman Kausar Banu was gangraped by a mob, who then with sharp weapons gouged out the foetus;
Dumping of dead bodies into a well by rioters at Narora Patiya; and n Police botching up investigation into the killing of British nationals who were on a visit to Gujarat.

SIT also said the charge that Mr Pandey was helping mob that attacked the Gulbarga Society was untrue. ���The truth was that he was helping hospitalisation of riot victims and making arrangement of police bandobast,��� senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi said.

Mr Rohatgi also told the court that 22 witnesses, who had submitted identical affidavits before various courts relating to riot incidents, were questioned by SIT. ���It was found that they were tutored. The affidavits were handed over to them by Ms Setalvad. They had not actually witnessed the riot,��� the counsel said.

The Supreme Court lauded the work of SIT and said there should be no room for allegations and counter-allegations. ���In the riot cases, the more the delay there is likelihood of falsity creeping in. So there should be a designated court to fast track trials. Riot cases should be given priority,��� the Bench said and sought suggestions from the Centre, Gujarat government and NGOs.