Activist Teesta Setalvad detained by Gujarat ATS day after SC verdict on 2002 riots

Activist Teesta Setalvad was taken into custody by Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad from her residence in Mumbai on Saturday in connection with an FIR registered against her at the Ahmedabad city crime branch. Reports said she was taken to Santacruz police station.

The move came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri's wife Zakia against the Special Investigation Team's clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.

Setalvad and her NGO had supported Zakia Jafri throughout her legal battle.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, said that the Setalvad-run NGO had given baseless information about the riots to police.

The home minister also alleged that Setalvad's NGO gave applications against BJP workers in every police station and the pressure by the media was so immense that every application was treated as truth.

The top court on Friday dismissed Zakia Jafri's plea, saying there is no tittle of material to show the violence after the Godhra train carnage was pre-planned owing to the criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched at the "highest level" in the state.

Alleging a larger conspiracy behind the mass violence against Muslims, Zakia had challenged the Gujarat High Court's October 5, 2017 order rejecting her petition against the finding of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT.