Teesta Setalvad, her husband shall not be arrested: SC

The court however reserved its judgement on their plea seeking anticipatory bail

The Supreme court today directed Gujarat Police not to arrest social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband in a case of alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Ahmedabad's Gulbarg Society that was devastated in the 2002 riots.

"It is directed that the petitioners (Setalvad and her husband) will not be arrested in connection with the case," a bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel said, while reserving its judgement on their plea seeking anticipatory bail.

The apex court directed Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand to provide all documents, vouchers and list of persons who gave donations to their NGOs Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace for carrying out investigation in the case.

The bench accepted the request of their counsel Kapil Sibal that their accountant will be allowed to represent along with them before the Gujarat Police during the inquiry.

On the apprehension of Gujarat Police on the issue of non-cooperation of the accused during the investigation, the bench told senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Gujarat government, "If they will not cooperate with you in the investigation, you can file an application before us for cancellation of their bail."

The bench declined to give any commitment to Sibal whether the inquiry will be limited to post-2007 donations received by the two trusts for setting up a museum in memory of the victims or it will cover the activities of NGOs since 2002.

The bench replied, "Who are we to say. You are only on anticipatory bail qua FIR."