NEW DELHI: Social activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand have denied the charges levelled against them by the Gujarat police in an affidavit in the Supreme Court that they embezzled nearly Rs 3.85 crore of the Rs 9.75 crore trust funds collected for victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots "The Trustees of Citizens for Justice and Peace and Sabrang Trust , as also Teesta and Javed (both of whom are part of the Board of Trustees of the two independent trusts) have repeatedly and emphatically denied the charges against the two of them as baseless and politically motivated. We reiterate the same now," they said.Setalvad and Anand said the Gujarat police has "regurgitated" allegations and chosen to completely ignore the over 20,000 pages of evidence submitted to them in refutation of the charges. They said they have submitted "voluminous documentary" evidence from which it is evident that during the relevant period neither CJP nor Sabrang Trust ever applied or appealed for or received grants or donations intended for the financial assistance to riots victims.CJP did seek funds to provide free legal aid to the survivors and eye-witnesses, they said. In 2008, with the concurrence of the members of the Gulberg Housing Society in Ahmedabad, Sabrang Trust did try to raise funds for building a 'Gulberg Resistance Memorial' but the project had to be abandoned in 2012. On a notice from the Gujarat police, in April 2014 the auditors of the two independent trusts filed reports and subsequently gave statements to the Gujarat police categorically stating that they had found no financial irregularities either during the annual audits or during "re-verification" of the accounts.The present affidavit has been filed by the Gujarat police in the SC in response to the separate petitions filed for the de-freezing of the accounts of two trusts, and also the personal accounts of Teesta and Javed.

Source: Times of India December 04, 2016 01:07 UTC