Gulbarg Society fund embezzlement case: SC rejects Teesta Setalvad's plea to defreeze bank account

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Teesta Setalvad's petition seeking to defreeze her personal bank accounts in Gulbarg Society fund embezzlement case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra dismissed the pleas of Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and her two NGOs – Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace.

The activist had challenged the Gujarat High Court's order that rejected their pleas for de-freezing of their personal bank accounts in the alleged misappropriation of funds received by their NGOs for Gujarat riot victims of 2002.

Following allegations of embezzlement, the Supreme Court in 2015 questioned the source of money in the bank accounts of Setalvad and others which were frozen by the Ahmedabad Police.

One of the residents of Gulberg society, Firoz Khan Pathan, had filed a complaint against Setalvad and others alleging that money was raised to make a museum at Gulberg Society in the memory of 69 people killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, but it had not been utilised for the purpose.

Ahmedabad Police had immediately come soon after its crime branch had started probing a case in which Setalvad and others were accused of embezzling Rs 1.51 crore collected to convert Gulbarg Society into a museum.

 

With agency inputs