NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) today dismissed petitions from activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband, and their NGOs asking for their accounts to be unfrozen.

In 2015, the crime branch of the Ahmedabad police froze six accounts belonging to Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, and their NGOs for alleged misappropriation of funds received by them for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.

In October 2015, the Gujarat high court also rejected Setalvad’s pleas on her Bank Accounts.

Setalvad challenged the Gujarat high court’s order in the SC, saying she was being targeted because of the role played by her and her NGO in seeking justice for the victims’ families and the survivors of the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.

Ahmedabad police froze Setalvad’s and others’ accounts soon after its crime branch started probing a case in which the activist and others were accused of embezzling Rs 1.51 crore collected to convert Gulbarg Society into a museum. Gulberg society was one of the sites of the 2002 riots.

In February this year, the top court questioned the source of money in the bank accounts of Setalvad and others.
“Whose money is this? From where did the money in these bank accounts come,” a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asked the counsel for Setalvad.
“There are multiple donors who have donated the money for various purposes. Our personal bank accounts and the bank accounts of NGOs have been frozen by them, which also include fixed deposits. At least the court should direct them that personal bank accounts should be defreezed as lot of time has passed,” advocate Aparna Bhat appearing for Setalvad said.
(With inputs from PTI)Source : timesofindia