Interim bail to Teesta extended by 3 months

Fearing arrest, Setalvad and her husband had moved the apex court in the case of alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society.

The interim bail for social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand got extended by at least three months on Tuesday as the Supreme Court decided to hear in July the controversy surrounding the grant of anticipatory bail to the couple in a case of alleged financial fraud.

The case was listed before a three-judge bench led by Justice Anil R Dave for a fresh hearing but could not be taken up due to lack of time.

When the bench was about to rise for the day, the Gujarat government said it wanted to file an affidavit indicating the progress in the investigation. Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Gujarat, said that the police would want to file its additional affidavit enclosing certain material recovered during the course of investigation. Jethmalani said these materials allegedly revealed gross misuse of funds by Setalvad.

He requested the bench to hear the matter after a week but senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave, appearing for Setalvad and her husband, sought more time to reply.

As they expressed their inability to argue the matter in May and then June would be summer break for the court, the bench said the matter will be heard in the second week of July. Fearing arrest, Setalvad and her husband had moved the apex court seeking protection from arrest in the case of alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society that was devastated in the 2002 riots.

Source:: Indian Express