In order to tighten the noose on social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand in the case of embezzlement of funds collected for charity, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch has requested the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to frame two more charges against them including forgery and fraudulently using forged document as genuine.
The Crime Branch officials who filed affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the anticipatory bail of Teesta and her husband requested to add section 467 (Forgery) and 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a forged document as genuine ) of IPC in the FIR No-1/2014 filed against them recently.
According to them, Teesta and her hubby not only utilised funds for personal luxury such as wine, whisky, cake, sanitary napkins, bollywood movie CDs etc but also for ‘evading disclosure norms laid down by statute to conceal the misappropriation, unilaterally altering the prescribed form (Schedule IX) of the Income and Expenditure Statement’. These two IPC sections are related to fabricating evidence, forgery and tempering with public documents.
“The Petitioners are conscious of the massive fraud perpetrated by them. It was known to the Petitioners that receipt of salary by them of large quantum was grossly illegal and improper. Further, the Petitioners were also aware that the illegal payments were capable of detection because of statutory requirements of disclosure of remuneration paid to trustees,” said the affidavit adding that thus for example, Schedule IX of The Bombay Public Trust Act which consists of a prescribed form of income and expenditure account mandatorily required to be submitted to the Charity Commissioner.