“She shall render complete cooperation in the pending investigation, and asks her to surrender her passport," the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court said it has considered the matter only from the standpoint of interim bail. It said the Gujarat High Court shall decide Teesta Setalvad's bail plea independently and uninfluenced by any observations made by this court.
The interim bail was granted when the top court was hearing a petition of Teesta Setalvad seeking interim bail.
The Gujarat High Court had filed an affidavit and told the Supreme Court that there was a strong case made out against Teesta Setalvad for some of the most serious offences whereby criminal conspiracy was hatched for and by fabricating false evidence with a clear intention to get a conviction of several persons for capital punishment 2002 Gujarat riots.
The affidavit by the Gujarat government mentioned that the FIR against rights activist Teesta Setalvad was backed by the evidence. The affidavit stated that systematic efforts were made to ensure that both oral and other evidence is fabricated.
Teesta Setalvad was arrested by the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch on June 25 on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) that was registered against them. The FIR was registered under sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences) of the IPC.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was also formed to investigate the case has alleged that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a larger conspiracy allegedly carried out at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilise the then BJP-led government.
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt is also an accused in the case. The FIR was formed after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Zakia Jafri had challenged the clean chit given by the SIT to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others in 2002 Gujarat riots.
Zakia Jafri had alleged a "larger conspiracy" behind the post-Godhra incident riots.
(With PTI inputs)
