Supreme Court asks Gujarat govt to reply on NGO plea

Social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand have approached the Supreme Court for de-freezing the bank accounts of their two NGOs — Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace.

The bank accounts of Ms Setalvad, Mr Anand and the two NGOs were frozen by the Gujarat police in 2014 soon after it began investigating an alleged embezzlement case wherein Ms Teesta was said to have collected Rs 1.51 crore from national and international donors promising to convert Gulbarg society into a museum for the 2002 riots but later used the money allegedly for personal use.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C. Nagappan, after hearing senior counsel Kapil Sibal sought the response of the Gujarat government to the appeals and posted the matter for further hearing on August 17. Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta appeared for the Gujarat government.

Mr Sibal contended that the bank accounts of Citizens for Justice and Peace were frozen from January 2014 although CJP had nothing to do with the receipt of foreign funds by Sabrang Trust. He alleged that even the personal accounts of the petitioners, including Javed Anand, were frozen without any reason.

The bench expressed the view that they will have to wait till the investigation is completed. However, it asked Gujarat to file its reply.

Ms Setalvad had challenged the order of the Gujarat high court upholding the decision of a metropolitan court rejecting their pleas to de-freeze the bank accounts observing it may affect the investigation of the case.

The lower court in its order had also observed that the accused did not cooperate with the investigation of the case.

One of the residents of Gulbarg Society, Firoz Khan Pathan, had filed a complaint against Setalwad and others alleging that money was raised to make a museum at Gulbarg Society in memory of those who were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots but it had not been utilized for the purpose.

On January 5, 2014, an FIR was lodged under IPC Section 120 (B) for criminal conspiracy, Section 406 (fraud) and Section 420 (cheating) against Setalwad, Anand, Tanvir Jafri, son of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, chairman of Gulbarg Society, Salim Sandhi and secretary of the society Feroz Gulzar for allegedly usurping Rs 1.51 crore. Government had also frozen the bank account of the firm located at Juhu, Mumbai, as the Home Ministry claimed that the firm was not authorised to receive funds from abroad as it was not registered under Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA).