Activist Teesta Setalvad is being investigated for corruption misusing the funds given to her trust by Ministry of Human Resource development under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme. In early April this year, an FIR was lodged by her former aide Raees Khan Pathan. According to the FIR, the NGO Sabrang Trust, run by Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand, received Rs 1.40 crore from the Education Ministry, which “they used to spread communal enmity, and have accused the Constitution as well as judiciary.”
The Crime Branch of Ahmadabad Police is investigating the case. They wanted to arrest the couple for investigation proceedings but the couple went to Bombay High Court to get anticipatory bail, and the court extended the arrest date till May 2. Further to escape from investigation, Teesta Setalvad filed a plea in Supreme Court of India which extended the arrest date from May 2 to May 31. The apex court also directed the couple to move to the judiciary in the state of Gujarat as the case was registered by Gujarat police. In Ahmadabad, Sessions Court Judge P J Tamakuwala heard the bail plea in the corruption case on May 22 and reserved the judgment for May 23.
The Crime Branch of Ahmedabad Police has opposed the bail plea, having said in a statement that “investigation is at a sensitive stage and the accused were capable of affecting evidence against them if they were prevented from being arrested.”
The statement also read that under its “Khoj Project”, the Sabrang Trust published pieces of literature and pamphlets that spread communal hatred which was against the Constitution and Judiciary, which threatens the peaceful co existence of communities.
Teesta Setalvad was a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education of HRD Ministry, and therefore, her trust getting money from ministry is a conflict of interest. According to Crime Branch, “Most of the fund was spent for personal use. Money was transferred in the personal account and used for personal and political works.” The cases registered against her were under IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The case also read that “the money was used to pay witnesses in serious cases in Gujarat (2002 riot cases) to make false deposition”.
Teesta Setalavd is known for her anti-Modi activism, and her husband Javed Anand who is a journalist turned Muslim rights activist runs an NGO Sabrang Trust. They were trying to frame PM Modi for 2002 Gujarat riots even though the Supreme Court of India had given a clean chit to Narendra Modi in the Gujarat riots case. Teesta Setalvad is also accused of witness tampering. In April 2009, the Times of India ran a story claiming that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Supreme Court of India to investigate and expedite the Gujarat riot cases had submitted before the Court that Teesta Setalvad had cooked up cases of violence to spice up the incidents. The SIT, which is headed by former CBI director, R K Raghavan has said that false witnesses were tutored to give evidence about imaginary incidents by Teesta Setalvad and other NGOs. The SIT charged her of “cooking up macabre tales of killings“. In 2013, Tehelka in an undercover investigation discovered that Zaheera had been paid to alter her testimony in November 2010. Setalvad was accused of pressuring Zaheera Sheikh, the key witness in the Best Bakery case, to make certain statements, leading to the unprecedented transferral of the case outside Gujarat.
Teesta Setalavd’s organization Sabrang Communications and Publishing has received 2, 90,000 dollars from the US-based Ford Foundation. Her organization is not registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, and therefore, receiving money was illegal. Ford Foundation, which is one of largest international donors has been accused of spreading communal disharmony and interfering with the internal matters of India. These cases show that Mrs. Setalvad intentionally tried to malign the image of PM Modi for the 2002 Gujarat riots. She has gone to the extent of pressuring and bribing witnesses to prove her case. She is not just pursuing anti Modi activism but also pursuing anti India activism by taking money illegally from Ford Foundation. Now that she has been accused of corruption and misuse of funds by her former colleague, it seems that “karma” has come back to bite her for her misdeeds.