Gujarat Riots 'Conspiracy' Case | High Court Grants Bail To Ex-DGP RB Sreekumar Who Was Arrested Along With Teesta Setalvad

The Gujarat High Court on Friday granted bail to former Gujarat Director General of Police Raman Pillai Bhaskaran Nair Sreekumar (RB Sreekumar), who was arrested last year by state police on the allegations of fabricating documents so as to implicate high government functionaries including the then CM Narendra Modi in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Sreekumar was first granted interim bail on September 28 and the relief was extended from time to time pending the final disposal of his bail plea. The plea was finally allowed on Friday by a bench of Justice Ilesh J. Vora taking into account the following factors:

- The entire case is based on documentary evidence which is now in the custody of the investigating agency.

- Applicant (Sreekumar) is aged about 75 years and is suffering from age-related ailments.

- Applicant (Sreekumar) didn't misuse his liberty during the interim bail.

- Key accused Teesta Setalvad was granted bail by the Supreme Court on July 19.

The Court has directed him to remain present before the trial Court on August 17, 2023, and furnish his personal bond of Rs.25,000/-. 

The background of the case

It may be noted that Sreekumar was arrested on June 25 by the Gujarat ATS along with human rights activist Teesta Setalvad pursuant to an FIR in the matter, which was registered against Sreekumar, Setalvad and former IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt in 2022, one day after the apex court dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Ehsan Jafri alleging a larger conspiracy during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In this plea, Setalvad along with Zakia Ehsan Jafri had challenged the closure report filed by a special investigation team (SIT) discarding the allegations of a larger conspiracy by high state functionaries including the then-chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the communal violence that broke out in the western state of Gujarat in February 2002.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar observed that the petition was filed with ‘ulterior motives’ to ‘keep the pot boiling’. The top court further said that action should be taken against those who abused the process of law.

In its order, the court also observed that a ‘coalesced effort’ of disgruntled officials from Gujarat and others was to make false sensational revelations, which the Gujarat SIT ‘exposed’.

The bench remarked: “Intriguingly, the present proceedings have been pursued for the last 16 years… to keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design. As a matter of fact, all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law.”

In the FIR, Sreekumar, Setalvad, and Bhatt have been charged with criminal conspiracy, forgery, and other offences under the Indian Penal Code. The FIR in question quoted extensively from the Supreme Court's order. 

It has been alleged in the FIR the accused and others conspired to abuse the process of law by fabricating false evidence to ensure that several persons get convicted for an offence of capital punishment, thereby, they committed an offence under Section 194 of the Indian Penal Code.

The FIR further alleges that the accused instituted false and malicious criminal proceedings against innocent persons with the intent to cause injury to them and had prepared false records to execute the alleged conspiracy.

In related news, a plea has been filed by social activist Teesta Setalvad before the HC to quash the FIR in question. She filed the plea soon after a city sessions court in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad dismissed her discharge application in relation to the case.

On Thursday, Justice Samir J. Dave of the Gujarat High Court recused from hearing her plea.

Case title - Raman Pillai Bhaskaran Nair Sreekumar (R. B. Sreekumar) vs. State of Gujarat [CR.MA/21621/2022]

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 127

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