The Supreme Court will hear in July the plea of estranged former aide of social activist Teesta Setalvad to continue with the investigation against the latter over alleged fabrication of evidence in a post-Godhra riot incident.
Since the investigation was stayed by an order of September 2, 2011 by the apex court, the former aide Rais Khan Pathan sought lifting of the stay against Setalvad who influenced witnesses and filed false affidavits on their behalf in the Naroda Gam case where 11 people were killed.
Setalvad, through her NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace had challenged the July 11, 2011 decision of the Gujarat High Court giving green signal for probe against her in the case.
Pathan submitted the possibility of destruction of evidence if the probe was not allowed to continue. A bench comprising Justices RM lodha and Kurian Joseph will hear the petitions by Rais Khan and Teesta after the reopening of the court.
Pathan had contended “a reasonable likelihood of bias” against Justice Aftab Alam who had granted stay in the matter. The judge, since retired, had delivered a lecture in london on ‘Promoting Pluralism Knowledge Program’ (PPKP) organised by one of the NGOs working for the riot victims in Gujarat. Justice Alam’s daughter works for the same NGO.