‘Teesta Setalvad not worried about court probe’

AHMEDABAD - The Citizens for Justice and Peace, the Mumbai-based voluntary organization fighting for the 2002 Gujarat riot victims, stated Thursday that its secretary, Teesta Setalvad, was not worried about any “investigation” as they had nothing to fear.

The CJP was reacting to the special trial court hearing the post-Godhra Gulberg society massacre case directing the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Teesta for allegedly “tutoring” witnesses to file false affidavits and file its report by Nov 18.

The judge, B.U. Joshi, issued the order after Setalvad’s one-time close associate, Raees Khan Pathan, filed an application in the court Wednesday accusing her of master-minding a series of “false affidavits” in various courts to “strengthen” the riot-related cases and influence the higher courts to move the trials outside Gujarat.

Reacting to this, the CJP vice-president, Nandan Maluste, and other trustees said Thursday that the allegations made by Pathan were baseless and motivated. He claimed that the former staff member of the CJP was shunted out because of his unethical practices.

He charged that Pathan was being used since September this year to negate the efforts of the CJP to get justice for the 2002 riot victims, same as had been done in the case of a star witness in the Best Bakery case who was won over and ‘misused’ during the retrial in the case in Mumbai in 2004 for the benefit of the accused. “The stakes of Gujarat state are high since it’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, is being investigated under the watchful eyes of the Supreme Court not only for conspiracy for mass murder but also for destruction of evidence,” he added.

He charged that Teesta was being targeted by a section of the media with motivated propaganda and malicious intent because the criminal investigations against the chief minister, and other state functionaries by the SIT is at a critical stage.

“These are intimidatory tactics to scare riot victims but we remain committed to our struggle regardless.